Like A Fire in the Dark
by shigeka
Summary: In which Harry Potter died and then got reborn into an entirely different universe as the heir to a certain empire. AU.
1. Chapter 1

I know. Another WIP. I'm so sorry.

I actually wrote this _ages_ ago but I'm actually not sure if I should post this because I planned for this to be a one-shot. It ended up being a monster though and it's been sitting on my laptop for so long because I still haven't gotten to write the last part and ending yet (despite this story have 15k words already). In the end, I decided to just split this into multiple chapters and post it bit by bit. Like I always do.

This is another of Harry Potter reborn to another world thing lol. Why do I keep writing for this trope I honestly don't know. You can view this happen in the same series as my "_But I Don't Want to be a Hero!"_ or not, it's up to you.

**Tags **(copied from AO3)**:** Crossover, FFXV Spoilers, Minor OC, Author knows nothing about politics and it shows, Fix-It, Maybe, Attempt at comedy that turned into not-comedy, Pitioss Ruins Theory, But modified to suit the story, Grammatical errors, Author knows nothing about polite slash upper-class English speech patterns and it shows, Elements of Final Fantasy XIII

* * *

**Like a Fire in the Dark**

**One**

* * *

So it happened like this.

Harry, 84 years old and still very much healthy despite his old age, was visiting his little Lily's children in France for a vacation. Lily's children, a pair of twins by the name of Freyr and Freyja, had opened a winery that produced high-quality wine in the countryside and how can he resist _that_? He could see his beautiful grandchildren and enjoy some good wine, perfect for a vacation right?

And it _was _a perfect vacation until he got drunk and thought it would be funny to take a bubble bath with his designer robes and socks on in the middle of the night, slipped, and hit his head on the bathtub.

_What an embarrassing way to die_, Harry thought before his vision darkened.

He pitied the one who would find his (thankfully not naked) body in the morning. He thought he'd see his parents or godfather or Dumbledore again being mysterious in the afterlife, but no. When he opened his eyes again, what he saw was the lavishly decorated ceiling of an entirely too grand room.

Now Harry and his family were fortunate enough to be able to call themselves well-off, but they were not wealthy enough to be able to afford anything near this level of grandeur. This was even above Malfoy-level richness and Malfoy was the richest person he knew.

_What the fuck, _he tried to say, but all that came out was a wail.

A _baby's _wail.

He squirmed around, trying to get up, but found that he couldn't. He panicked and let out a wail again, causing a door somewhere to open.

A woman in what seemed to be a maid uniform entered his vision. He panicked again and jerked his body when he saw the woman picked him up and rocked his small body against her bosom.

"Shh," she shushed gently. "There, there. What's wrong, little prince? Did you have a nightmare? Or are you hungry?"

_I turned into a freaking baby, _he tried to tell her, but her soft voice and the rocking motion of her arms made him feel so sleepy. So sleepy that he decided to sleep right then and there in her arms.

The last thing he heard was her sweet chuckle before once again, darkness claimed his vision.

And then suddenly it's been 5 years since that time.

Harry had accepted this strange turn of events long ago. So apparently reincarnation existed, no biggie. What _was _a biggie was the fact his reincarnation happened in an entirely different universe than his first life _and_ that he was born as the sole heir of a growing empire.

Imagine that. In probably about 20 years when his father kicked the bucket (he's like, really old though so maybe it would happen in about 10 years instead), he would be the emperor of almost the entirety of the world.

_(That was if he didn't die from being assassinated first though. There were a lot of those here. It would be a miracle if he even survived his 10__th__ birthday with so many assassins coming after him in a year.)_

Yeah, he definitely didn't sign up for this and he cursed whatever higher power out there that decided to put him there every day. Like seriously. It's been 5 years since his rebirth and he's still cursing them when he opened his eyes every morning. He wouldn't stop anytime soon either.

Anyway, so here's the situation right now.

Harry—or Iudicias Aldercapt now, he suppose—was born in M.E. 739 after the emperor, Iedolas Aldercapt, accidentally impregnated one of his concubines in his old age of 69.

His mother, Lady Cyanocitta (who was 45 years younger than the Emperor he might add), died right after his birth and he was raised by his nanny, Nucifera, who acted as his mother and playmate ever since because his father was a cold-hearted bastard that didn't have an ounce of care for him and wouldn't be caught dead trying to bond with him.

Iudicias could actually count the number of times he saw his father with his fingers for he only saw the man exactly ten times in his short life and that lasts only a couple hours per meeting. They met twice a year: once during his birthday party where he would be forced to socialize with his father's underlings and be paraded around as the heir to the empire, and the next during his father's birthday party where he would be forced to socialize with his father's underlings and be paraded around as the heir to the empire _again._

It was _horrible_.

If he hated being the savior of the wizarding world before, he absolutely _abhorred _being an imperial crown prince. It was suffocating.

The governess who tutored him praised the man again and again and glorified the history of the Niflheim Empire to him to instill the seed of loyalty to the empire and pride in his father's legacy, but Iudicias wasn't an easily influenced child (because he wasn't a child, despite him being a 5 years old in body). All he learned from those lessons was that Iedolas Aldercapt was a corrupt man that fucked the rest of the world with his wars all because he had a ridiculous ambition to rule over them.

Unbelievable.

By now Iudicias realized that he was the son of a villain—which explained the various assassination attempts, really. He wanted to change things and right the wrongs, but he was a child still in everyone else's eyes and there was not much that he could do at his age even if he had magic at his beck and call.

So he bide his time while he played the role of a perfect, cold-hearted prince for the eyes of outsiders as he kept an eye for those who secretly disagree with the emperor's vision so he could sway them to his side later while learning as much as he could about this new world that he was born to.

Apparently, gods were very much real in here. Shocking. They have physical forms and all too. It was weird.

He found out the reason the Imperial Capital, Gralea, suddenly turned cold enough to freeze him even with his hundred-layers of robes was because Iedolas ordered his army to kill the suddenly-awakened Shiva just a few months after he turned 6. Apparently, it was her corpse that caused the disturbance in the climate.

He then learned of the starscourge and history of the Lucian King's Crystal. Along with that knowledge he came to know of the existence of the Oracle, the currently the 14 years old Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret whose Kingdom of Tenebrae just got annexed by Niflheim just the year before.

_(He also learned that her brother Lord Ravus had joined the Niflheim military earlier that year, which puzzled Iudicias a lot. Why would you join the military force of the nation that annexed yours? Crazy.)_

He kept up his perfect prince persona with great difficulty. Not because people suspected him of something, but he just couldn't sit still and do nothing when he knew hundreds of people out there were dying every day in the ongoing war that his nation started.

Iudicias tried so hard to separate his past and current life, and yet when the news kept covering the war and praising Iedolas for his contribution for the empire, suddenly he felt like he was a 17 years old Harry Potter again—racing with time in a quest to save the world.

* * *

.

* * *

M.E. 748, Iudicias noticed that Nucifera was hiding something from him when he was 9 years old. When he found that it was the starscourge she was hiding from him, he was furious at her.

The scourge was no joke—leave it for too long and she will disappear into nothingness.

"Why are you hiding it from me?" he asked her when he had calmed down, and his nanny—his _mother_—only smiled at him sadly.

He heard from her then about the rumor—the rumor that the military was collecting people with the sickness, and they were never heard from again. She didn't want to end up like them, so she chose to hide it.

He wanted to be mad at her for that because it meant that she didn't trust him and believed that he would sell her out to the military, but he found that he couldn't. Because how could anyone trust the son of Iedolas Aldercapt?

Iudicias fired her after that because the empire wouldn't let her go without a reason and ordered her to go to Tenebrae to seek help from the Oracle who had just ascended the previous month. He never heard from her again after that, but he hoped she made it out alright.

After that, his father the emperor sent someone else to him. He was old enough to not need a nanny, he said, so he got an assistant, adviser, bodyguard, and self-defense instructor that was rolled into one person instead. Apparently, the young man, Aurys Besithia, was one of the sons of the 'genius' behind their prided Magitek Soldiers.

Immediately, he felt something wrong from this blond man who was to become basically his shadow. The man was more of a doll than a human.

Following his intuition, he used a dispelling spell on the young man and just as he suspected, he felt his magic broke something and suddenly, the young man _came to life_ in front of him.

Aurys was _scared—terrified—of_ him at first, but he managed to calm to young man down and soon after being assured that he wouldn't let Verstael got to him again, the blond confided everything in him.

Turned out Aurys wasn't one of Verstael's sons, but one of his _clones. _He was one of the special ones that were allowed to retain a bit of their humanity and was given other more important roles within the empire.

He babbled everything to Iudicias. About the truth behind the Magitek project that he had witnessed with his own eyes before he was sent to him, about the daemons Verstael had experimented with, about the starscourge they intentionally infected the people with, about the cloning factory and the experimentation on infants…

The blond broke down as he told Iudicias about how it felt like to be injected with the scourge. About how it was like to have control of his body taken away.

Aurys told him that even though he couldn't control his body, his consciousness was always there—lurking beneath, witnessing everything. He was in pain and yet there was nothing he could do because his body had been so mangled and experimented with that he wasn't completely human anymore, just a machine to serve Verstael and his sick ideas.

He thought that it must be the same with every other clone that got turned into Magitek soldiers. Trapped in their own body, not being able to fight back against the injustice and cruelty done to them.

If Iudicias wasn't already disgusted with Iedolas and his diseased empire, he definitely _was _now.

Why was he condoning these experiments? Was he too drunk on the promise of world domination that he threw away his morals and humanity?

Iudicias initially had just decided to stop the war when he ascended the throne to make nice with Lucis, liberate the kingdoms that Niflheim had annexed, and ensure that there will be peace for the people his empire had hurt, but now…

He had to do _something._

He cannot stay idle while there were so many of his people suffering under his father's reign.

Fury roiling in his chest, Iudicias tipped young man's face towards him with his hand and crouched down a bit so they were face to face.

"Join me, Aurys Besithia. Help me destroy the Empire, and I will free your brethren," he vowed, staring down at the young man's wide eyes. Aurys was too stunned to say anything at first, but before long he gained a determined expression when his words finally sunk in.

"I will follow you to the ends of Eos, my Radiance. My sword and loyalty are yours, for as long as you need me," Aurys vowed back, kneeling before him as he kissed the tips of his fingers in fealty.

It wasn't an action that Iudicias expected from him. It was a bit over the top honestly, but okay, whatever floats his assistant's boats he guessed.

He ordered the young man to still act like a doll outside of his private rooms to avoid suspicion as they conspired together to make the plans for their cause.

Before anything though, Iudicias thought if he was to do this, he needed outside help and opinions and who better person to give it to him than the Oracle herself? Besides, Aurys needed her healing from the scourge that ran in his veins, so it was two birds and one stone kind of situation.

In the dead of the night, he left an illusion of him sleeping in bed before he cloaked both himself and Aurys invisible and apparated them away to Tenebrae to meet Lady Lunafreya, who… didn't look surprised by their visit, despite it being so late in the night.

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Prince Iudicias," the 17 years old Lunafreya welcomed him with a kind smile and a set of sylleblossom tea. When she noticed Aurys standing guard behind him, she rose and sent him a look.

"May I?" She asked.

She waited for his nod of confirmation before she went to him and pressed her forehead onto Aurys's. She started to shine with a light that felt warm and strangely divine and Iudicias saw something black—the scourge?—coming out in small particles out of Aurys's skin.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Iudicias knew then that they came to the right person. That the legends were real.

When Lady Lunafreya parted from him, he could feel that Aurys had been freed of the scourge that had plagued him for as long as he was alive. Aurys seemed too overwhelmed to find any words, so in the stead of the servant he had grown attached to Iudicias bowed at her and thanked her for her help.

The Oracle immediately went to him and told him to raise his head though, a faint pink color emerging across her cheeks as she reassured him that she was only doing her job.

He smiled at her reaction. Somehow she reminded him of his granddaughter in his previous life. His little Freyja was also sweet like her.

He told her of the reason for his visit when they have settled. He told her of everything Aurys told him about the scourge and the daemon experiments and of Iedolas and his obsession with ruling over Eos and gaining the Lucian Crystal.

Lady Lunafreya listened to him attentively, never once interrupting. Only when he finished that she opened her mouth and told him of a prophecy from thousands of years ago about the Crystal and the King of Kings that would appear to save the world.

A prophecy.

_Apparently_ this prophecy spoke of an eternal night that would bring about ruins and the only one who can bring the dawn back was the King of Kings and _apparently,_ Iedolas was determined to be this King of Kings this prophecy spoke of.

All of this mess, because of a prophecy _again_.

When he learned that she had received a vision of this future that the prophecy foretold, with her permission he dived into her mind to witness the truth for himself.

She showed him visions of the past, of the future, and everything in between that she deemed will affect the fate of Eos.

It was overwhelming to say the least.

Iudicias saw the spreading of the starscourge and a pile of dead bodies burned to ashes in an open field. A healer betrayed by the gods, sealed away at the corner of the world until his reappearance as the Immortal Accursed.

He saw a king, giving up his life to give others a chance to escape and a big city, destroyed in a single night. Then there were gods themselves, awakened from their slumber and of the Oracle herself, dying to save a young man. He saw the same young man that she protected getting bonded to a crystal unwillingly while the world fell into ruin.

Lastly he saw the same young man, now much older, killing the bringer of ruins before he sacrificed his life to open the path for the future of the world.

When he finally pulled away from her memories, he had to take a deep breath to calm himself.

He recognized the Accursed. He was a man that he saw nearly every day in the Imperial Palace, standing beside the Emperor.

The Chancellor, Ardyn Izunia.

The Immortal Accursed—the walking, talking starscourge was _his empire's chancellor_.

He must have been pulling the strings from behind the curtain, whispering manipulations to Iedolas's stupid ears. No wonder Niflheim was so fucked up.

But wait.

He… wasn't in any of the future Lunafreya saw.

When he asked the Lady Oracle this, she only smiled at him.

"You were never supposed to be here, Prince Iudicias," the young woman told him softly, her hands folded daintily on her laps.

"I do not know why you are here or where do you fit in in this game of the gods, but… that is why I am holding onto the hope that maybe you could be the ripple that changes the future I have seen and saved the King of Kings from his destiny."

Iudicias stared at her with thin, displeased lips.

"And what about you?" he asked her. "Are you just going to accept your fate? To be gutted and discarded—your corpse thrown into the sea, never to be found again?"

A small smile was on her face as she looked down to her interlocked hands.

"…I do not fear death. As long as the King of Kings is safe, I—"

Before she could finish her sentence, he slammed his hands onto the table and glared at her.

"No, I will not listen to you. If I were truly sent here to save your King from his fate, then I will save you as well, you hear me? The gods have no right to ask you to throw away your life like that," Iudicias told her firmly.

"For the future of your King, you better get rid of that self-sacrificing mindset of yours and focus instead on helping me find another way to build the ideal future for the entirety of Eos," he finished, leaving no room for an argument.

He thought, idly, that his years as a prince had corrupted his way of thinking and he had grown too used to demanding and ordering people. Instead of the arguments he expected from her though, Lady Lunafreya covered her lips as she laughed lightly.

"Gentiana was right about you," she said finally, a genuine smile on her lips. "I accept, Prince Iudicias Aldercapt. Anything you need of me, I will do my best to make it happen. My strength is yours for as long as you need it."

Iudicias nodded, satisfied with her answer.

They made a pact. When the time comes, he would call her aid to deal with the Accursed and in return, he would find a way to save the life of the King of Kings for her.

Dealing with a prophecy and saving someone from a certain death wasn't on his agenda when he started to plan this revolution, but the Astrals disgusted him. They made the mess and yet they sent a whole 2000 years line of family to clean it up for them instead of using their godly powers to do it themselves. What the actual fuck.

As a former victim of a prophecy, he wouldn't let anyone else suffered from a fate like that, especially if it was to clean the messes of the so-called gods.

No—he would change the future.

Even if it meant he had to defy the gods themselves.

* * *

**End of Chapter One**

* * *

I attempted to make this a fix-it, crack-slash-comedy at first but Idk. I always fail when I tried to make a comedy. Also, I totally didn't plan this, but somehow Bahamut became the bad guy in this story. Title is from Kiki's Song by Mree, from the line "_Like a fire in the dark, I am turning the key._"

Chapter 2 and 3 is already done and probably will be posted in 2 or 3 days after I read through it one last time, but chapter 4 may be out **a lot** later because I'm busy. If you're my old readers, hello and welcome back but sorry I probably won't be updating my other stories anytime soon. ):


	2. Chapter 2

**Pairings:** Noctis Lucis Caelum/Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Aranea Highwind (this is background relationship only, won't be the focus of this story)

Unexpectedly there are a few of you that liked this story lol. I was _trying_ a new writing style when I wrote this so there's not a lot of dialogue, but starting the next chapter it went back to my usual style I think.

Enjoy!

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**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Two**

* * *

When Iudicias came back from his visit to the Oracle, with Aurys' help he began to plan seriously for this revolution.

First, he had to form an army and look for someone who could reprogram the Magitek units to free them. With the soldiers taken care of, with Lunafreya's help combined with his own magic they would try to deal with the Accursed.

They have to deal with him first because he would cause the most trouble if left alone for too long. If they failed to cleanse him, at least seal him until they could find a way to either purify the scourge from his body or banish him for good.

After that, they would go find Verstael Besithia and send him to the shadow realm.

Like, seriously. The man didn't deserve to live anymore after all he had done. _He had to go._

The last step was to confront Iedolas and either get him to surrender his throne or take it from him by force.

Iudicias had to remind himself that he wasn't Harry Potter anymore and this wasn't his old peaceful world. He shouldn't be afraid or hesitate at the idea of having to spill some blood for the sake of the future.

If Iedolas man wouldn't let go of his throne… he could die in it for all he cared.

With Lunafreya's help, they got Ravus (who had just become the Deputy High Commander of the Imperial Army and was _Very Strong_) into the cause. He would be a really big help in a fight, as his strength alone could match like, a hundred squadron of Magitek soldiers.

Loqi Tummelt, a young Brigadier General under Ravus's direct command, joined them after a really heated discussion with Ravus that he ended up overhearing and interrupting.

Knowing that Ravus wasn't betraying the empire (even though he technically was) but was serving the will of the Imperial Prince, he decided to join too.

Apparently, he privately disagreed with the Empire's unethical experimentations, but he couldn't do anything but stay silent because disobeying the Emperor's will meant death or a fate worse than death. Tummelt was loud and a bit narcissistic, but he was capable and strong in the field so he was glad to have the young man with them to help with the inevitable fight.

Aranea Highwind, a Commodore of the Imperial Army, joined soon after with the group of mercenaries she led. Apparently one of her boys used to be infected with the scourge really badly a few years back and they met Lunafreya by accident in a town she was visiting. She saved the Dragoon's underlings and they've secretly been good friends ever since.

Iudicias had heard of Commodore Highwind even before she joined them.

The young woman was insanely strong and tales of her achievements reached his ears once or twice in passing. The mercenary group she led on the side was loyal to her and would do anything she ordered them to. They were not weak and they worked best as a team, so they were reassuring to have as a back-up for the others.

With Aranea's help, they also got the cooperation of the freedom fighters—or '_terrorists'_ as Iedolas put it. The leader of the resistance was old friends with the Commodore and when she approached the leader with the idea, although suspicious she tentatively agreed to help Iudicias.

Meanwhile, Aurys managed to locate several of his special 'siblings' and they agreed to help with taking control of the Magitek soldiers after Iudicias dispelled their mind-controlling device. He also discovered some of Verstael's assistants that agreed to join their cause, which was a pleasant surprise.

Of course, Iudicias make them swear with a binding vow so they wouldn't betray them and their cause before he let them in. This was too important to risk anything.

Iudicias himself went on his days kissing his father's and the chancellor's asses, being the perfect heir to the Empire while taking the court members that he suspected wasn't completely on his father's side aside one by one and convincing them to join him in his usurpation.

He found himself surprisingly good at acting and sweet-talking them into his clutch. He would be a mean businessman if he ever tried his hands on that, but one thing at a time.

A lot of the court members actually never agreed to his father's decision to abandon their humanity. They were all for expansion of territories, but cloning humans, experimenting on daemons… yeah, most of them were a little freaked out at that, but they didn't dare raise their voices because they didn't want to become an experiment subject themselves.

Figured.

Of course, he got some of them wrong. Those that he misread and was actually a believer of his father's disgusting vision got a really hard slap to the face because _how could they agree with that twisted view have they lost their minds _before he obliviated them and send them their way.

It took 3 years, but the preparation for this coup d'etat was finally ready.

The hardest thing was to stay out of the Accursed's line of view, but they managed. Sometimes, he thought that the Chancellor knew exactly what they were doing in the background but he allowed it to happen anyway.

Iudicias didn't know what that man wanted from all of this mess, but he was prepared to do anything and fight him if they have to.

* * *

.

* * *

The end of July of M.E. 752, they began executing the operation.

Iudicias and Lunafreya quietly slip away on their own to head directly to confront Ardyn while Ravus, Tummelt, Highwind, and the Resistance dealt with the Magitek Soldiers to create a diversion for them and Aurys's team, who was heading straight to the control rooms.

He had told Aurys to take control of the Magitek Soldiers if he could, but in the event that they couldn't be disabled, they were to be destroyed instead from the central command to release them from their nightmare. They would just save the clones that hadn't been experimented with instead after everything was over.

When Lunafreya and he finally encountered Ardyn, Lunafreya took out her Trident and handed him his spear before she began gathering her magic to weaken the scourge inside the man. While she gathered her magic, he brandished the spear and tried to stab the man who after blocking his attack—flew into him?

He dodged it, barely. His left leg was hit by the Accursed's sword though and he couldn't help the curse that slipped from his mouth.

"No one told me he could fly!" He hissed at Lunafreya who rolled her eyes and went back to concentrating.

His leg was only hit a bit, but the force of it was enough to damage the bones there and he stumbled, trying to strategize. He was planning to wow this man with the skills he learned from Aurys, but it seemed like he had to take a defensive stance after all. Damn his child body.

His mind raced. He couldn't let Lunafreya be injured. Quickly he moved beside Lunafreya and began to hurl whatever magic that came to his mind at the man as he multi-casted _protego_ around both himself and Lunafreya in time with his attacks, using his spear as his Focus.

He had never thought the Accursed would be an easy opponent, but he was really beginning to _infuriate him _with all his warping around and the bombardments of his flying Armigers. The timings of his _protego_ had to be really precise, see, and he was bad with precise castings like that (especially because the spear wasn't a good focus for his magic).

And then Lunafreya began to glow with holy light and Ardyn stopped for a moment to cover his eyes.

It wasn't that bright, to be honest, but maybe it was different to Ardyn's cursed eyes.

Lunafreya took this chance and took his hand into hers. He felt her holy magic flowing into him and took a deep breath before he fired his stupid signature spell that had been enhanced by Lunafreya's magic at the Accursed—

"_Expelliarmus!_" he yelled and waved his spear in the chancellor's direction.

A bright light shot out and hit the man full-force, sending him into a wall unconscious.

Lunafreya let go of his hand and immediately run towards Ardyn's body to check him, but when he asked her she shook her head and told him that the scourge was still there and although weakened, she said it was still very strong—too strong for her magic to purify completely without destroying herself.

It seemed like they couldn't do it without the King's power after all, but okay, this was a start.

He hobbled carefully to Lunafreya, minding his injury, and held his hand back to her. She took it and gave him her power again. This time, he hit the man with a holy element-enhanced _stupefy_.

Hopefully, the altered spell will knock him out for at least three centuries, but he'll take a few years too. At least until they could find a solution for him anyway.

His first task done, Iudicias called Aurys on the mic on his earpiece, telling him to send someone to their location to retrieve Ardyn's body and take it somewhere safe as Lunafreya healed his injured leg.

When the pain finally ebbed away and he could walk again, he and Lunafreya wasted no time and went to locate Verstael Besithia.

The moment he saw the old man in his lair trying to merge his own body to a worm-like piece of machinery in a desperate attempt to came out of this alive, Iudicias rushed forward and stabbed him in the chest with his spear, not giving him a chance to say a word before he pushed him down onto the hard floor.

He reminded himself that wasn't doing this just for himself. This was for Aurys and countless others who had been hurt by the man's immoral experiments.

Mercilessly, Iudicias pulled out and stabbed him again until he was absolutely sure that the man was dead.

Lunafreya wisely didn't comment on his ruthlessness, knowing who the man was and all the horrible things he had done. She simply averted her eyes and rested her hands on his shoulders when she saw the slight tremble of his hands.

The Oracle held his hand all the way to the throne room, being the support that he didn't know he needed. They navigated the countless corridors to reach the elevator that would take them to the heart of the palace while battling Magitek Units that were positioned nearby to guard the throne.

When they reached the elevator, an uncountable amount of Magitek Soldiers dropped down from above and surrounded the two of them. Iudicias pulled Lunafreya behind him and was about to destroy all of them with his magic when suddenly all of them dropped motionless to the ground.

"_We've taken control of the command room_," Aurys's static-y voice said through their communication line. "_All the obstacles have been cleared—the elevator is safe for you to use._"

Iudicias nodded even though the older man couldn't see it.

"Thank you, Aurys."

There was static for a second before Aurys's voice spoke again as they ascended up on the elevator. "_Break a leg, my Prince_."

He laughed at that. "I just did, actually."

He stepped out when the elevator door opened again, ignoring Aurys' panicked questionings about his leg. There was a long corridor that led to the throne room—the room where his father was waiting for him.

The final confrontation before everything was over.

Before the door, Iudicias turned off his communication and handed his spear to Lunafreya who bowed to him before she stepped aside to let him go. He had talked about this with her before. When he confronted his father, he wanted to do it alone.

He didn't know why, but he felt like he didn't want to let others see the downfall of the man who had created him.

He heard that this man used to be a just ruler that was beloved by his people. What happened to him that he became like this? How could he let himself be manipulated so?

"Thank you, Lunafreya. I will take over from here," he told the Oracle who nodded her head at him as she clutched his spear to her chest.

"Be safe," she smiled and bestowed a chaste kiss on his forehead. "May the protection of the Crystal be with you, Prince Iudicias."

Iudicias nodded back and took a deep breath before he put his hands on the door and pushed inward. When the door opened, he saw his father, sitting on the throne like nothing happened.

The old man pushed himself up the moment he entered and from the look on his face, he was absolutely enraged at him. Around him were the bodies of the Magitek Soldiers stationed there to protect him, lifeless and unmoving.

"You have sat on that ugly chair for far too long, Father," he began as he stepped towards the man. "I think it is time for you to pass on the flame to another, don't you think?"

"Foolish boy!" Iedolas Aldercapt bellowed, throwing his arms to the side as he pulled the sword that he kept on his hips and pointed it at his own son.

"What do you know power? Of duty? Of responsibility? What makes you think that you can bear the weight of the crown?" Iedolas asked him furiously. "You have not the slightest idea of what it means to rule an Empire!"

"Indeed, I haven't," Iudicias hummed softly. "But I do not have to, Your Radiance, and you know why?"

He smiled at the man with a smile that didn't reach his eyes and told him in a clear voice, as clear as the diamonds on his father's crown.

"Because I'm going to abolish this wretched empire of yours and create a new country from its ashes—a country where the people are the one that chose their leader as opposed to the one we're having right now."

That's right, this was the final and extra step to this plan of his to protect his people.

Even if their coup right now succeeded, there was no guarantee that the future rulers of Niflheim will follow after Iudicias's vision of a just country, so he wished to abolish the current system and let the people choose the one to lead them.

It will be difficult to achieve—maybe not even in his lifetime, but he would be satisfied with just introducing the idea to the masses.

The reason that he chose to reveal his plan to his father was to make him so mad he couldn't think about where he swung that sword of his. The old man, who was once a clever ruler, foolishly fell to his trap and rushed towards him with his sword pointed right at his stomach without thinking.

Despite his old age and rickety body Iedolas was somehow still quite fast, but Iudicias was still faster than him. Gracefully, he sidestepped his father's attack and with one swift motion, he took the ornamental dagger that he always wore on his hips and stabbed the man's chest.

The sword in his father's hands fell to the ground with a loud clang as he slumped forward, coughing blood. Iudicias watched him fall to the ground on his back and looked down at the once powerful ruler of the empire, now gasping for breath, desperately clinging to the life he was undeserving of living.

He stayed silent as Iedolas propped himself onto his arms and crawled towards the throne, simply observing the man as he took the sword the man dropped into his hands.

"One day, you will know why I do everything I did," the old man gasped when he finally gave up and lied there at the steps that elevated the throne he desired for so much.

"You will never be sated with life and forever suffer from wanting…" the man kept talking as he coughed, spewing blood all over his white robes. "You will understand me, and you will destroy everything you hold dear… just like I did."

Iudicias snorted and stepped forward to loom over the man's body.

"If I ever became like you, then I gave my friends full permission to put me down," he told him as he poised the sword above his head. "Just like what I'm going to do to you right now."

He stared at the man's gray eyes—the same color as his, but so different at the same time.

"Goodbye… Father," Iudicias finally said before he slashed the man's chest with his own sword, ensuring his death.

Iudicias let out a long breath and closed his eyes.

Finally, it was over.

The preparation for this coup d'etat took almost 4 years, and yet, it took them less than a day to actually make it happen. He turned his communication device back online and told everyone the good news.

"Iedolas Aldercapt is dead," he said, wincing a bit as his ear was assaulted by the cheers of his men even as he smiled in relief. "We did it, everyone. We did it."

* * *

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* * *

M.E. 752, at the end of the 7th month, Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt died in his old age of 89. His life was taken by his only son, the Imperial Prince Iudicias Aldercapt, who took his head as the proof of his victory and displayed it to the public.

The day after, on the same day of his 13th birthday, Iudicias Aldercapt ascended the throne and was crowned the 112th Emperor of the Niflheim Empire by the Oracle of Light. His accession was celebrated by the whole nations who heralded him their savior for freeing them from Iedolas's cruel regime.

The news traveled fast to the Kingdom of Lucis and reached the ears of King Regis and his son, Prince Noctis.

Their kingdom wasn't sure what to do with this turn of event and they upped the security for their beloved king to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the unrest to harm him.

The kingdom was still full with whispers of conspiracies and of worries for the future when a certain messenger suddenly visited their prince, bearing a letter for the future king from the Oracle herself.

_"I apologize for not telling you anything before it happened. I imagine that you must be surprised by the news reports, hearing what was happening here in the heart of Niflheim,_" was what Luna wrote to him. "_Please be assured that I am unharmed. Emperor Iudicias protected me during everything that has been going on and will continue to protect me, even after this._"

"_Although I am free to go where I wish now, the Emperor has asked for my assistance for something and I decided to accept his request, which is why I couldn't come to your side right now_," the note continued. "_The Emperor had promised me that I will be able to see you soon, however, so please have patience for a little bit more. When the time is right, we will be reunited once more._"

"_I miss you, dear Noctis,_" Luna wrote. "_May the Crystal's protection be with you._"

More than 6 months passed after that with no more letters from the Oracle, but Noctis kept seeing the young woman in the news standing behind the young emperor with a man that looked so much like his best friend whenever he made public appearances.

He patiently waited for this 'time' that the Oracle mentioned, but each day he became more disheartened from the lack of news about her.

And then, suddenly an emissary from Niflheim arrived at their door—offering terms for peace between Lucis and Niflheim.

* * *

**End of Chapter Two**

* * *

If you recognized the dialogue from when Iudicias confronted Iedolas: congratulations you have impeccable taste in your reading material lol.

It's a slightly modified version from the last scene in **King's Maker**'s season one. It's my absolute favorite webcomic of all time. Gorgeous art, beautiful story. Chapter 24 have some of the most memorable scenes I've ever read. There's barely any dialogue and yet you can clearly understand what the character's thinking, what they're feeling. God, it was absolutely_ gorgeous_. Definitely check it out if you don't mind reading BL.

Sorry about the promotion there lol but I genuinely love King's Maker and I couldn't help to put the dialogue here because of the similarity of the situation. Also, I forgot to mention that Iudicias is derived from _iudicium_ (judgment, justice) while Aurys is from _aurum _(gold).


	3. Chapter 3

If you're into Noctis/Prompto may I recommend yeaka's **Yes Please** in AO3 because that's my favorite thing in the world right now and you definitely should check it out they're such an amazing writer I'm in love.

Forgive my fangirling. Also as of this chapter, Iudicias is 13, Noctis is 17, Lunafreya is 21.

* * *

**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Three**

* * *

The first thing Iudicias did as the new emperor of his nation was to deliver death penalties to those who were loyal to his late father.

It might seem like a harsh move knowing who he was before his rebirth to Eos, but it was a necessary evil to ensure that they wouldn't try to disturb the peaceful world he envisioned for they shared the same twisted ideals that his father had and had done unforgivable crimes themselves.

Finding out the rats in his empire took a while, but he did the job quickly enough thanks to Aurys's efficiency and Ravus's connections. When that was done and over with, he spent his days trying to tidy up his father's mess and building his own council with the people he trusted.

He shut down the cloning and Magitek laboratories, deciding to enlist actual humans for his military than the daemon-infested machines his father fancied. They still use the MTs they managed to save during the rebellion, but they will not manufacture new ones anymore.

He asked Lunafreya to try to heal the MTs from the scourge, but since using her power tire her easily, the progress has been slow. Iudicias had been able to disable their mind-controlling devices though and now Aurys's team of researchers were able to slowly teach them how to be more humanlike.

They may not be able to do anything about their deformed bodies, but at the very least they want to give them their hearts back.

The hundreds of clones they rescued from the factory were sent to a safe house for a while as they figured out what to do with them, but some of the older ones chose to stay with the military as a way to give thanks to him for freeing them.

Some of the younger ones were given away to families who were sympathetic to their situations and decided to adopt while the others who were old enough for work were given jobs in various places in the palace until they can choose what they want to do for themselves.

Iudicias wanted to open some orphanages for them and the children of those who had fallen victim to the former emperor's wars, but at Aurys's advice he decided to focus on state affairs first, being guided in his every step by Aurys and Lunafreya who understand the matter more than himself.

His new court members who had sworn themselves to serve his every will were backing him too so they steadily started to fix together their broken nations' affairs.

When most of the internal problems had been resolved, he planned to go to Lucis to mend their relationship and then liberate the Kingdoms of Accordo and Tenebrae, but he supposed that he had to do it one step at a time. There was plenty of time to do everything, Lunafreya had assured him when he began to fret over having achieved so little since his ascension to the throne.

Before he knew it six months had passed before he could finally send Ravus to Lucis first as an emissary to offer them his proposed terms for peace.

Ravus refused to go at first, but Lunafreya smacked him in the head with her Trident and told him to let go of his misplaced grudge against King Regis and he finally agreed to go, albeit reluctantly. _Really_ _reluctantly_, with a terrible scowl on top as they have to practically force him inside the air carrier and order the MTs escorting him to report immediately if he was trying to bail.

Iudicias had heard of their history before from Lunafreya, but he didn't know that Ravus was holding a grudge at the King of Lucis.

First he joined the Niflheim Military voluntarily and now he was holding a grudge at the wrong person. He really didn't understand Ravus and his priorities.

Ravus was a capable man and good at politics though, so he still sent him to Lucis despite his apparent grudge and Iudicias spent the days after waiting for his return anxiously. He hoped his requests to King Regis wasn't too outrageous—he really wanted this peace treaty to go through after all.

There was several things he personally requested of Lucis in exchange for the liberation of all the kingdom's former areas that they have annexed.

The first was he wanted the continued trade of foods between their countries—and with a favorable discount for Niflheim. His people still need to eat after all, and most of their lands were barren from the climate abnormalities Shiva's corpse caused.

Considering that formerly Niflheim didn't even bothered to buy from them and just take what they want from the areas they conquered, he thought it wasn't that bad of a deal for them.

The second he wanted them to share their Lucian technologies like cars, phones, television, and internet with Niflheim.

He wasn't really sure how this will work like do they buy the license or what—that was for his council to figure out. He just wanted to have smartphones and mobile games again okay. He was a millennial before, you can't blame him for being attached to his gadgets.

The third was he wanted to have an exchange learning programs with schools and universities in Insomnia, especially with the medical and teaching schools. Niflheim had a lack of medical professionals and educators for education above elementary school level and he wanted to send people there to learn and fix the problem.

His final request was arguably the most important one of them all, but also probably the most difficult one to be granted.

He wanted the King to allow him and Lunafreya access to the Crystal and the Ring of the Lucii. With the history of his late father and his obsession with the Crystal, this was probably the most difficult of their term for the King to consider, but Iudicias need to have contact with them if he wanted to find a way to break the prophecy.

…he really wanted to curse the Astrals with his magic for making this mess in the first place.

The rest of the proposals he left to his council. They knew the best for Niflheim and understood if they tried to trick him into anything he morally didn't agree with he would literally curse them, so he decided to trust them with the job.

While he waited for the good news from Ravus, he spent his time with Lunafreya who had become his closest friend beside Aurys (who arguably acted more of a loyal servant-slash-mother than a friend even though Iudicias considered him a friend).

During weekends when they weren't trying to fix the empire, he liked to go down to the imperial city and visit some of the empire-funded orphanages that he finally opened a few months into his reign.

He had always liked children and playing with them, entertaining them, had always been his favorite past time even back in his old life. Seeing the children's smile and hearing their laughter relaxed him and helped him de-stress somehow.

Sometimes Lunafreya and (surprisingly) Aranea and Loqi joined him. Now was one of those times. Lunafreya and Loqi went with him this time and while Loqi was out in the yard playing soccer with the children, he opted to stay inside with Lunafreya because he detested the cold.

As he played several matches of chess with Lunafreya to pass time, he told her that if they were granted access to the Crystal, she was to tell the Draconian his message because he had a piece of his mind that he had to share with the self-important overgrown lizard. The young woman only rolled her eyes at him before she beat him again for the 12th time.

* * *

.

* * *

Ravus finally came back after a week, bearing the good news that the King was willing to negotiate the terms with them.

And so, without wasting any more time, Iudicias told his retinue and council members that they were going to Lucis immediately.

Road trip!

Or not. It was actually a sky trip.

A bit disappointed that they couldn't travel through land, Iudicius told his retinue (without giving them any room for objection) that once they were done in Insomnia they were going to accompany him to Galdin Quay so he could build sand castles in the beach and to Wiz's Chocobo Post so he could bury himself in their feathers.

He would like to adopt one or two chocobos to keep in the Imperial Palace's long-unused stables, but the climate might cause them harm so he had given up on the idea early on. He was really sad about that, honestly.

Ravus didn't seem too happy with this plan, but see if he dared to defy him. He would dye his hair purple while he sleeps or something.

The trip to Lucis took their entourage about 2 days via the Magitek engine and before they arrive, Aurys made him change to one of the Super-Special-Ceremonial-Robes sets that he had prepared especially for this visit.

It was an extravagant piece of clothing, with gold threads woven in to form Niflheim's emblem on the back completed with this slightly high-heeled boots and golden armguards, but Iudicias supposed that it was proper for him to wear something like that—he _was _The Emperor after all. He had the bad habit of forgetting that sometimes.

Lunafreya was beautiful as always, dressed in white and silver that complimented her colorings, while Ravus and Aurys were decked in their usual military uniform. The rest of his entourage was wearing similar robes as what he was wearing, only less fancy befitting to their stations and in a different color.

Deep down, Iudicias knew that this was a historical moment that probably everyone in Lucis was waiting for a long time, but that didn't prepare him for the number of people welcoming them with their nearly deafening cheers. He thought a lot of people would resent him and maybe he would be greeted with an assassination attempt or two, but it was fairly peaceful so far.

Lunafreya walked behind him, smiling gently at all the people celebrating their arrival.

"Smile, Your Radiance. Do not forget that you're being watched by the entirety of Eos now," she whispered to him, and trying his best to not look like a cold-hearted emperor, Iudicias put on a warm smile to his face as he waved to the crowds.

Oh. He forgot how he hated being scrutinized by the public and media _so much._

The Lucian dignitaries that welcomed them were stiff through the whole affair as if expecting them to attack or something. Iudicias understood their mistrust considering their history, but it still stung a little.

They were escorted to a black sleek-looking car. A Kingsglaive opened the door for him and he got inside with Aurys while Lunafreya and Ravus went with another car. They headed straight towards the citadel, passing by a lot of famous monuments and places that made him itch to take a picture even though he didn't even have a camera.

Aurys, as always, knew him well and leveled him with a _look _that warned him to behave because they were in a foreign country now, not at his own empire where he could do whatever he wanted and no one will judge him because he was their beloved fairy emperor.

(Yes, they actually called him with that ridiculous moniker. He didn't know the actual reason, but Loqi said it might be because he was small, magical, and both small children and animals were fond of him.)

(He smacked Loqi's head with his spear for that comments.)

He pouted slightly at Aurys and opted to look out the windows to avoid the Kingsglaive's eyes through the rear-view mirror as they rode in slightly uncomfortable silence.

* * *

.

* * *

The citadel's gate was crowded with the Lucian citizens, waving little flags and flowers as they arrived. The Kingsglaive once again opened the door for him and he got out, nodding his head to acknowledge the Glaive's gesture with Aurys, Lunafreya, Ravus, and the rest of his council followed behind him after they got out of their car.

Several of the Lucian court members were there to welcome and guide them to the meeting room where they will discuss in depth of their nations' proposed clauses for the treaty.

He hoped they could reach the middle ground and sign the treaty as soon as possible, for the sake of their respective people.

When they arrived at the hall, King Regis was there with his Shield behind him. The rest of his court sitting on their side of the table and his Glaives standing vigil along the walls to guard through the meeting.

Looking at the king's condition, Iudicias felt pity for him.

The pale, almost translucent skin, the veins decorating his face, the cane and the leg support—he heard from Lunafreya that using magic was tasking for her body. Clearly, it must be the same for him, maybe even worse.

He had heard that the King was only 50 years old, and yet he looked as old as Harry was before he died at the age of 84. Okay, maybe some of it was because of his magic preserving his youth, but the point was he looked older than an average man should at his age.

Iudicias couldn't even imagine what it was like for him, having to maintain the magical wall that surrounded Insomnia for so long. He hoped that with the finalization of the treaty he could relieve that burden from this man.

"It is an honor to meet you, King Regis," Iudicias smiled slightly, trying to break some of the Lucian king's apprehension as he approached the older king.

"The honor is ours, Emperor Aldercapt," the king offered back, smiling too even though it didn't reach his eyes. "You have ventured far to grace us with your presence."

Oh, he hated it when the king said his name like that. He preferred to be called Iudicias—Aldercapt reminded him too much of his dead father.

He wanted to ask Aurys if it would be appropriate for him to ask the king to call him by his first name, but from the look the blond gave him, it wasn't. At least not right now when their entire council was watching him like a hawk.

"It was the very least I could do, after all the trouble my late father has brought to your people," Iudicias told him as he was led to a really lavish chair—fit for an emperor. "I pray we are able to obtain much from this visit."

The king nodded and then they finally began what was probably the most important meeting in the century.

He had always hated politics, even in his last life. Honestly, it hurt his head seeing the old men and women arguing like little children in a sandlot, but he managed to bear it by exchanging little faces with Lunafreya along the meeting whenever someone said something stupid.

Lunafreya and Ravus proposed several things on their own too—but it was mostly Aurys, his new chancellor, who shined the brightest there.

He didn't really care about what his court want from this treaty aside from his 4 requests as long as they weren't harmful to the Lucians nor to their side and Aurys knew this, so he let the man control their side as much as he wanted. He only chimed in sometimes when one of his courts proposed something he didn't agree with or when the Lucian court asked for something too outrageous from them.

Honestly though, Lucis had much to gain from this treaty while them, not so much. They _were _losing territories after all, but they made it work for them.

In the end, King Regis agreed with the first 3 of his request, while the fourth…

"I must ask first, what are your intentions with the Crystal and the Ring?" The King finally asked him at the end of the meeting. They hadn't reached the middle ground and the meeting was going to be continued the next day instead.

The Lucians immediately tensed when they touched on the subject of the Crystal.

Iudicias sighed inwardly. What a paranoid bunch. Understandable though.

"You might want to dismiss your council and Glaives first before I touch the subject, King Regis. I'm afraid that what I am about to say is not for the ears of just about anyone to hear," he told the King of Lucis. "Those who have your complete trust are welcome to stay with to guard you. Only Lunafreya, Ravus, and my Chancellor will stay with me as well, so you do not have to worry about your security."

He hesitated a bit, glancing at Lunafreya who nodded her support before continuing.

"Also… you might want to call Prince Noctis for this. This does concern him, after all," Iudicias said again to the King. "Of course, he may bring the people he trusts the most as well."

King Regis was silent for a while, leveling him with a stare as he tried to judge Iudicias if he was being genuine or if he was scheming something. After a while, the older monarch finally nodded and gestured something at his Shield.

"Very well. Clarus, you stay. The rest of you are dismissed. We will continue the negotiation tomorrow. Sir Ulric, please notify Prince Noctis and the Marshall that he is to get to the dining hall immediately." The King finally agreed after a few seconds of contemplation. There were a few of his court that showed disagreement to his decision, but King Regis silenced them with a look.

"Yes, Sir." A Glaive from the wall saluted before he excused himself out of the room.

They waited until all the unimportant people have gone from the meeting room before the King turned to him, a pleasant expression that Iudicias wasn't sure if it was genuine or not on his face.

"If you would please follow me, Emperor Aldercapt. Let us discuss this matter over dinner, it is quite late already, I am sure you are quite famished right now," the King said not unkindly. "Sir Khara, please notify the kitchen that our esteemed guests are joining for supper," King Regis continued to another Glaive who saluted and went to do what he was commanded.

The older king gestured at Iudicias to follow, and follow he did.

The Citadel was a grand, beautiful architecture that blended traditional and modern artistry perfectly with a sleek design and warm tones that made the interior pleasant to the eyes. There were even some open gardens here and there with so many warm colors to brighten up the place, unlike the Imperial Palace that was mostly metal, metal, and metal.

The palace was quite drab, honestly. Perhaps he should order for remodeling when he got back home.

He decided to mention this to King Regis, just to make their walk to the dining hall less tense.

"Your Citadel is truly a marvel, King Regis. The Imperial Palace back in Niflheim pales in comparison," Iudicias hummed as he observed the many flowers in the gardens.

And then he saw it.

That tail. That beautiful big eyes. It was—

"Is that _a_ _cat_?" Iudicias exclaimed suddenly, startling the older king who was about to respond to his compliment.

"I—yes?" the King said a bit unsurely.

Why he was unsure Iudicias didn't know, for it was definitely a cat there playing with a butterfly in the gardens. He turned to Aurys who went a little paler, knowing what he was thinking of doing.

"Your Radiance, no_,_" his chancellor said with a pained look on his face.

"Your Radiance, _yes._" Iudicias mimicked as he ran towards the unsuspecting cat, leaving the King and his Shield staring after him perplexed while Aurys just pinched between his brows and excused himself to bring him back to their group.

Lunafreya giggled softly behind her hand and shot an apologetic look at the King.

"Please forgive his impulsiveness, Your Majesty. He has been keeping himself in check for so long, I think he deserves to have a little break from all the formalities today," Lunafreya told the older man.

"Have he always like this even in Niflheim?" King Regis asked as they watched him play with the cat and rub its belly gleefully, a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips.

"Most of the time, when he is in the company of those he trust—yes," Lunafreya confirmed, smiling at the King. "Even if he is capable when he needs to be, our beloved Emperor is still young after all, and he is very fond of animals. Cats are not native to Niflheim, so he had been looking forward to this visit all week."

"To pet some cats?" the King asked with no small amount of amusement. Lunafreya laughed again behind her hand.

"To pet _all _the cats," she corrected, her face softened slightly as she bowed to the King. "I apologize for not greeting you earlier, Your Majesty. There were many eyes watching after our actions today, so I couldn't come to you directly earlier."

Lunafreya smiled up at him fondly. "It has been a long time, Your Majesty."

"Yes," King Regis smiled back, a bit sadly but also relieved. "Far too long."

"And whose fault is that?" Ravus grumbled beneath his breath, causing his sister to shoot a disapproving look his way but the King shook his head at her.

"Don't. It is my fault for being too weak back then, my dear," King Regis said to Lunafreya before he turned to face Ravus. "I know you may not forgive me, but for what it's worth, I truly am sorry for not being able to save you and your sister, Ravus."

"Oh, please do not mind Ravus' words, King Regis. He probably does not hate you, really. He just acts like a jerk to everyone most of the times, we're still not sure why," Iudicias chimed in, grinning widely as he walked back towards them with the cat he was playing with purring loudly in his arms.

"A jerk?" Ravus repeated, looking aghast while Lunafreya tried to cover her undignified snort as a cough behind her hand.

"Language, Your Radiance," Aurys, as always, admonished sternly as he followed behind him.

Iudicias turned towards the blond, pouting, but the blond only stared back at him unflinching. He sighed before he turned back towards King Regis who was looking at him in amusement. "Forgive me for my language, King Regis, but I will have you know that I spoke the truth just now."

"Of course you did," Aurys muttered under his breath. Iudicias wisely ignored his comment as he turned his nose upwards with a huff.

"I hope you do not mind that I bring this little one with me on the way to the dining hall," Iudicias said as he rubbed the cat's head gently. "I must say, he is quite lovely. Is he a frequent resident of the Citadel?"

"He is," King Regis answered, smiling a little at his playfulness with the cat. "Prince Noctis gave him the name Socks."

"Socks!" He crowed in delight, laughing. "How fitting!"

The cat did have white pattern on his feet like he was wearing socks on. He chattered some more as they continued to walk, glad that some of the King's iciness towards him had started to melt. He was glad that he was in a child's body—people just couldn't help but have a soft spot for him sometimes and he was going to take advantage of that as much as he could.

He let Socks go before they went into the dining hall, promising himself to go find the cat later once their business was finished.

When they finally arrived, Cor Leonis, Prince Noctis, and his retinue—a really big and muscly dark-haired man and a slim young man with glasses—was already there waiting for them.

"Luna!" Prince Noctis exclaimed when he saw the Oracle.

"Noctis…" Lunafreya gasped. She bit her lip and turn to him, looking unsure, but it was clear that she wanted to go to the prince.

Iudicias smiled at her.

"Go on. Go to him," he told the Oracle who shot him a grateful look and rushed to hug the prince who immediately put his arms around her, hugging her slightly smaller body tightly.

They separated after a while with Lunafreya's hands cradling the prince's face and they spoke too softly for anyone else to hear.

Ravus looked wholly displeased by the whole situation but knew if he voiced his opinion his sister will smack him with her Trident again so he stayed silent. Didn't stop him from glaring at the prince though.

"Young love. How adorable," Iudicias commented just to see Ravus's reaction. The man didn't disappoint him when he turned the glare his way and he smirked at him in return. Prince Noctis's face flushed a deep red when he heard his words too, which was _amusing_.

He smiled back at the prince innocently.

Once everyone was seated at the table, the servants began to serve them dinner. Most of the dishes were not familiar to him, but they were absolutely amazing. He commented what he thought honestly to the King who assured him that he would tell the chef of his compliments.

When they have finished their meal and the small talks have dwindled down, he and Lunafreya shared a look.

"I am sure you must be wondering why I wish to be allowed access to the Crystal and your Ring, King Regis," Iudicias finally began after Lunafreya nodded at him to go. "First, be assured that I do not wish to take either the Crystal or the Ring. I merely wish to accompany Lunafreya for when she talks to Bahamut and get a closer feeling of the Crystal's power."

"Talk to Bahamut? Through the Crystal?" Prince Noctis asked, shooting an inquiring look at Lunafreya.

"That is where he is supposed to be dwelling, yes." Lunafreya nodded at him.

"And what of the Ring?" The King asked in what was surprisingly, pure curiosity.

"I need to understand how the Ring works," Iudicias answered as he sipped the diluted wine that was served to him and honestly… after so many years drinking The-Good-Stuff from his grandchildren's winery, it tasted… not bad, but not great either.

(He must not quite hide his opinion from his face because the King's Shield gestured for the servant to bring something else for him—an orange juice. He wanted to be offended because how old did he think he is but at the same time it was delicious so he kept on drinking it.)

"And why do you need to understand that, Emperor Aldercapt?" The King asked again.

Iudicias tilted his head slightly as he answered, "I promised Lunafreya to break this one particular prophecy, you see, and I think the Ring might have the answer that I need to do it."

He could see the moment his words dawned on the King and realized just what he was saying as his calm expression stuttered.

So he knew of the predestined fate of his son, huh, Iudicias thought with sympathy. That must have been hard on him—knowing that his only son had to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world. Have no fear though for he was here to help!

"A prophecy?" Prince Noctis asked him curiously.

Iudicias nodded even as King Regis's face immediately became paler—which he thought couldn't be healthy. He was so pale already.

"Maybe we should retire for—"

"Actually the prophecy concerns you, Prince Noctis," Iudicias said, ignoring King Regis's attempt to end the conversation.

"_Emperor_," King Regis said, almost pleading, but Iudicias pointedly didn't look at him. Sorry, King. The young prince needed to know this. It wasn't fair for anyone to hide it from him even if it won't matter in a few years since he _wasn't _going to let it happen.

"I never learned the exact wording of the prophecy, but essentially because the Astrals messed up in the past, in the near future starscourge will spread to every corner of Eos and the sun will stop coming out, causing daemons to run amok all over. A lot of people will die because of it," Iudicias began.

"The only thing that could bring the dawn back is if the King of Kings sacrificed his life to purge the starscourge using the Crystal's light, and guess who the lucky person is to be chosen as this King of Kings?" He asked, ignoring King Regis' pained look and the dawning horror on Prince Noctis's face.

Every Lucian in the room turned pale when they realized that their prince was the prophesized King of Kings and Ignis Scientia, the glasses-wearing retainer, jerkily clenched the tablecloth, rattling some of the plates and cutlery on the table as his face twisted into an expression of shock.

"I have to die… for the sake of the world?" The prince muttered numbly and his father immediately tried to comfort him.

"Noctis—" The King began, but his words died on his lips.

Seeing them like that, Iudicias finally couldn't handle it anymore and clapped his hands loudly, catching everyone's attention.

"No one is going to die." Iudicias huffed as everyone's eyes focused on him. "Did you not hear what I said earlier? I am here to find a way to break the prophecy."

When they still look unsure, Iudicias rolled his eyes and let his face melted into a softer look.

"You do not have to worry, Prince Noctis. I will not let you become a martyr for the sake of this world," Iudicias vowed to him with a small smile. "I have changed the future once and I _will_ change it once again. Lunafreya and I will find a way to break the prophecy and you will live a long, boring life until you gray and old."

The prince was silent for a while before he said with a small voice, "…Why would you do that for me?"

Iudicias thought that somehow seeing the Lucian prince like that he was reminded of himself when he was young and unsure of his own worth, back when he was Harry.

"Because a lot of people will suffer if you die," he answered and paused. "Also… my Lunafreya cares a lot about you, you know?" Iudicias added with a small smile as Lunafreya looked down, a faint blush decorating her cheeks.

He allowed them to gather their thoughts before he continued.

"I firmly believe that death is not something to be feared, but the injustice the Astrals have done to your and Lunafreya's whole family is making me sick. They have no right to ask you to die for their sake on top of everything they have already done." Iudicias shook his head.

"Emperor Aldercapt," Ignis hesitantly called his attention after a small silence. "You mentioned that you have changed the future once—may I ask what that future was?"

Iudicias stilled. "You want to know that?"

"We do." The Prince's Shield nodded, backing up the adviser's words.

Iudicias grimaced, unsure of how to explain it to him. He traded a glance with Lunafreya, who shrugged and nodded at him to tell them if he wanted to.

Well, it wouldn't make any impact on their lives as it was a future that would never happen now—_he made sure of it_—so maybe telling them would be alright.

He shrugged too and decided to just be blunt as usual.

He told them all the major events that led to the Lucian prince's demise—of the treaty, of the King and his Shield's death, the fall of Insomnia, Lunafreya's death in Altissia, Scientia's sacrifice to save the Prince, Ravus' death, the fall of Niflheim, and the 10 years of darkness that enveloped the entirety of Eos as the Prince got sucked inside the Crystal.

The Lucians were silent as they took his words, trying to visualize the events in their head. He sighed and took a sip of his juice before continuing.

"So you understand why I have to break this prophecy. It was not just for you alone, but also for everyone here who was supposed to die and suffer because of the prophecy—which was the whole world," Iudicias told the Prince and glanced at King Regis.

"Do not get caught up by _possible _future, however. Hopefully, we prevented the worst outcome with what we have accomplished until now, but the problem has yet to be fully eliminated."

He paused to let everyone took in his words before he continued.

"Most people outside of my empire are not aware of this, but I too was born with a kind of magical power. It's different than your magic—more versatile in many ways yours are not and yet at the same time could not do what yours can," Iudicias said, deciding to be transparent to the Lucians with his magic.

"I thought we could maybe purge Ardyn by ourselves if we combined my magic with Lunafreya's, but it did not work," Iudicias continued with a huff. "In the end, we just put a seal on him so he would not wake up and cause trouble for us while we figure things out on how to deal with him."

"From what Lunafreya told me, Prince Noctis was supposed to get rid of the scourge and bring back the dawn by channeling the Crystal's power through the Ring. But how?" Iudicias asked them rhetorically. "I believe if we understand how it supposed to work we will be able to find a way to prevent him from dying but still free Ardyn from the scourge."

Clarus raised a brow at this. "Free him? Not kill?"

Iudicias shook his head.

"No, I would feel bad if we kill him. He had done a lot of terrible things, but he _is_ one of the Astrals' victims too, just like you and your family. He would not be doing what he did if it was not because of the scourge," he reminded them.

"If he had been cleansed and he still wanted to destroy Eos, it's up to you what you want to do to him, however. He is your ancestor's brother, after all—so technically your family. I will leave it up to you Lucians to deal with him if that happened."

There was a small pause of silence as he let them absorb all the things he said before he spoke again.

"I am speaking as a citizen of Eos here, not as the Emperor of Niflheim," Iudicias started.

"I know you must have doubts about me still, but I only want simple things from all of this. I want the future to be bright and peaceful. I want the people of Eos to prosper and flourish. I want everyone to be able to love each other as human beings, no matter what their backgrounds are or where they were born," he said softly, more to himself than to everyone else before he continued louder.

"This future that I wished for will never become true if the starscourge is going to wreck Eos. So help me, King Regis. Prince Noctis," Iudicias demanded, looking straight at them with determination in his eyes. "_Defy_ the fate the gods have written down for you and lend me your strength."

There was a tense silence for a while—but Iudicias didn't back down. He stared straight into the Lucian King's eyes, unflinching and completely honest.

Finally, the King opened his mouth.

"I will help you, Emperor Aldercapt. If there is anything you need me to do to help you in your quest, I will. For my son… and the sake of the future we all dreamt of," King Regis said, nodding to him with a small smile on his face. "I too wished for the same thing you do."

Prince Noctis nodded, agreeing with his father. "Me as well. I'm willing to do anything to save everyone from that kind of future."

Iudicias, not expecting them to agree with him so easily, glanced at Lunafreya who smiled at him as she nodded. Beaming brightly, he thanked the King and the Prince for their willingness to cooperate and smiled to himself.

Finally, one step closer to creating the peaceful world that he dreamed of.

* * *

**End of Chapter Three**

* * *

I quite like this chapter. It gave me trouble when I was writing it, but the end result is something that I can be proud of.

The next chapter's half-written already, but I don't know when I can finish it sorry. While you're waiting, go check out yeaka's works lol.


	4. Chapter 4

If you don't want to see a spoilery rant about Episode Ardyn don't look at ending note. I'm just so sad right now urgh. Every time Ardyn chuckles in the title screen my heart just breaks all over again, he looked so pained it physically hurts me. Episode Ardyn gave me A LOT of inspiration for this fic though.

This is kind of a short chapter, but the next one will be longer and also more light-hearted. I've written most of it but I'm having trouble ending the chapter lol.

* * *

**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Four**

* * *

They talked some more after that conversation, mostly light-hearted stuff to balance the heavy topic he told them earlier. In the end, before they decided to retire for the night, they agreed to talk about the matter more in-depth later after the meetings.

"We have 10 years to figure this out," Iudicias reminded them. "We should focus instead on making sure this peace treaty went well."

When he had started to visibly look tired and seemed like he could barely hold back a yawn, King Regis arranged the transportation back to their hotel.

Iudicias told Lunafreya that if the King allowed it she could stay with the Prince if she wanted, to catch up with him after not meeting for so many years. King Regis allowed it and _of course,_ Ravus ended up staying there too to guard his sister's innocence from the big bad Prince.

He just rolled his eyes and waved them goodbye before he and Aurys went back to their hotel. Hopefully, Ravus could behave and didn't glare too much at the poor prince.

That night, when everyone thought he was peacefully sleeping in his bed, Iudicias slipped out of the room quietly. There was someone he had to see and he couldn't meet him publicly so he had to sneak out like this.

His hotel room was guarded by both MTs and Kingsglaives—he even saw the one from the meeting there. The big one with the braids. There was no way he could sneak past him without being noticed or followed, so okay. Apparition it was.

After leaving an illusion of himself sleeping in bed, Iudicias spelled himself invisible (he really missed having his cloak) and apparated to the Citadel to find for Captain Titus Drautos of the Kingsglaive—or better known in Niflheim as General.

He found the man sitting at his office, looking over a mountain of documents with a grim face. He didn't look up when Iudicias entered the room, still invisible, but Iudicias knew that the man had sensed his presence so he dismissed the spell cloaking him invisible as he approached the man.

"General Glauca," Iudicias smiled in greeting as he strutted to his desk like he owned the place.

Drautos's eyes widened as he took him in. He imagined that it would be a surprise seeing the young emperor of Niflheim visiting him late at night in dressed in his pajama and sleep robe, complete with a fuzzy bunny slipper that adorned his feet.

"Your Radiance—" he exclaimed as he rose from his seat, quickly moving to kneel in front of him.

Iudicias glanced down at his kneeling form for a while before he sighed and moved to sit on the loveseat near the bookcase. "You may rise," he told the man who tentatively did what he told him to.

He eyed the general who stared back at him with an unreadable look in his face.

"Do you know why I came here?" He asked Drautos who nodded at him stiffly.

"I have an idea as to why, Radiance."

Iudicias hummed at his answer and eyed him again before his eyes strayed to observe the office.

"I've read your files," Iudicias began. "You are born a Lucian and had served King Regis loyally for many years—and yet you suddenly betrayed your king a few years ago. Why is that?"

Drautos licked his lips before he opened his mouth to answer. "For the honor of my home, I fought and killed in the war. Even though we poured everything we have into our effort, we kept getting pushed back and year after year, I lost so many of my soldiers. Lucis is losing and we were not getting closer to reclaiming our lost homes."

He paused before bowing his head in shame.

"The former chancellor of Niflheim approached me after we suffered a great loss several years ago. If I work for them, he would liberate my homeland," he continued. "He pointed out that the longer the war went on, I would lose so much more soldiers. Good men will die in vain. I thought—if I helped Niflheim to win this war quickly, even though we lost no one will have to die anymore. So I agreed to help."

Iudicias was silent for a long while before he sighed. "I see. I understand your reasoning, but you do realize there will be no more war after we sign the treaty."

"I do, Radiance," Drautos said and Iudicias nodded at him. There was an uncomfortable silence for a while before Iudicias spoke again.

"You know, General? I despise traitors the most and I want none of them serving my empire," he said dispassionately as he eyed the older man. "So I want you to choose. Which side do you want to serve? Where do your loyalties lie?"

"I… I want to stay with my home. I choose to stay with Lucis," Drautos answered him, hesitantly at first before his voice became surer and a determined light entered his eyes.

Iudicias smiled at him and nodded, satisfied with his answer.

"Then you will have nothing to do with Niflheim anymore," he told the man. "General Glauca died defending former Emperor Iedolas in the rebellion six months ago and you, Captain Titus Drautos of the Kingsglaive, have always been loyal to King Regis. I was never here and this conversation never happened."

Drautos looked up at him with wide eyes. "You are not going to punish me?"

Iudicias tilted his head at him with confusion.

"What is there to punish?" he asked back as he stood from his seat, stretching his arms as he yawned. He smiled at the still stunned former general of his army and waved his hand at him. "I'm going back to my room. It's getting late and Aurys will yell at me if I yawn during the meeting tomorrow. Take care, General."

As he turned towards the door, he heard Drautos say to him, "…Thank you, Emperor."

Iudicias glanced back to see the man bowing at him and he waved his hand at the man in farewell. "Just keep the King safe from now on, Captain."

He apparated back to his room without looking back anymore and sighed when he was warm and comfortable in his bed again.

Now he had to look for a replacement for Glauca. Ravus would be a great choice, but since he was going to return him to Tenebrae later he couldn't use the guy anymore. Hmm… Loqi? Nah, he was too immature. Maybe Aranea?

Oh well. Aurys can figure it out for him later, surely. It was time to sleep for now.

* * *

.

* * *

The next day, the continuation of the negotiation meeting was held and Prince Noctis was allowed to join them. He brought up some very interesting subjects for them to consider too.

Everyone argued some more, but at the end of the day everyone managed to agree on both their proposed terms and he was informed that the ceremony to sign the treaty will be held in a two days' time and that there will be a ball the night before to celebrate the signing.

Iudicias pulled a face at that and shot Aurys a betrayed look because the man didn't tell him about this ball. Aurys, of course, just stared back at him with an innocent look. Lunafreya just giggled at his reaction.

Traitor, all of them.

With the matter of the negotiation had been finished, the time for them to discuss the more important matter. That afternoon, accompanied by Lunafreya, Ravus, and Aurys, he met with King Regis, the prince, and their retinues after lunch in a private room in the Citadel so he could take a look at the Ring.

"Do you need me to take it off?" King Regis asked after he was seated.

Iudicias cocked his head to the side. "Don't you need that to keep up the Wall?" he asked back before he shook his head. "No, you can keep wearing it, but I might need to hold your hand while I do it if that's alright with you?"

When the king nodded, Lunafreya glanced at him.

"Will you be needing your spear for this?" the Oracle asked him and he shook his head.

"That thing is only good for fast-paced battle. Something like this needs more of a delicate touch," he explained to the girl who nodded. "That reminds me that I do need a proper focus though. Aurys, remind me to make it when we get back home will you?"

The blond said something in response, but he couldn't hear him as he had started focusing on what they were there for.

He could feel the Ring's power even from where he was sitting and it wasn't good energy. It flowed wildly, untamed, and he could almost see with his eyes some of the invisible tendrils latching onto the King.

He looked directly at the King's eyes and offered his hand. The King got what he meant after a second and laid his hand on top of his. Clasping the King's hand with his own, he closed his eyes and tried to focus and feel the nature of the Ring's power with his magic.

He didn't know how he knew all of this, but when he touched the Ring, he just _understood_.

The Ring was not just a channel for the Crystal's magic.

The connection between the Crystal and the Ring that he felt… it felt like—it wasn't a conduit for the kings of Lucis to wield the Crystal's magic, but… between the Ring and the kings? It was using the kings to absorb the Crystal's magic?

It was a medium that was meant to absorb and hold the Crystal's power. Little by little, through the Lucian kings' bodies. Was that what makes them weak if they used their magic? He wasn't sure, but it certainly felt like it.

In return for the magic that it fed through the kings, it helped them to manipulate the Crystal's magic freely as well as amplifying that power… even though by amplifying that meant the kings would use more magic and so it fed the Ring with more power, which in turn made the kings weaker.

Iudicias frowned as his findings but didn't dare to say it out loud yet. If it was true, the Ring might be more sinister than he thought. He could feel that the Ring have another purpose though. Something else—but he couldn't really read what it was.

He just knew that it felt so dark and wrong and vile.

He was prodding the Ring some more with his magic when suddenly he saw a flash of bladed wings, a big eye behind an armor, and then suddenly he was violently flung outside.

The connection was terminated so suddenly and violently that Iudicias dropped the King's hand and cried out in pain as his hands immediately went to his eyes. Several hands immediately went to support his body, but he couldn't hear what they were saying behind the vicious pounding of his head.

Something dripped from his eyes and he whimpered, trying to suppress the need to scream again. Someone touched his head before he felt a faint warmth enveloped his body. He recognized this energy—Lunafreya?

Gradually, the pain lessened and he could open his eyes again. He saw the King and Prince staring at him in concern and his gaze flitted to the side where Aurys was holding him like he could break if touched too harshly as Lunafreya used her magic to heal him.

"Thank you, Lunafreya," he said after the pain has subsided some.

His eyes dripped something out again and he slowly raised his hands to wipe it off only to find with horrific realization that it was blood. He blinked slowly, trying to clear his eyes as Aurys used his handkerchief to clean his face.

He had never before looked Aurys so terrified aside from that night of revelation when they met for the first time. Iudicias let the man fuss over him as he knew it would help with his nerves, even though it was a bit humiliating.

"What happened?" Aurys asked him a bit shakily.

Iudicias tried to smile at him to ease some of his worries, but it honestly still hurts so he might not have succeeded in his endeavor.

"Something kicked me out," he murmured. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and he swallowed heavily. "I felt the interference of something… powerful. It just flung me out so suddenly when I was taking a deeper look on the Ring."

"Something powerful?" Lunafreya asked, frowning at him with concern.

"I'm not sure," he shook his head. Now that his head was clearer, that armored being… he was pretty sure he had seen it somewhere before.

His head snapped up towards King Regis who was asking for a servant to bring a Hi-Elixir for him quick. His eyes darted towards the Kingdom of Lucis's emblem on the King's cane and—

His throat felt parched suddenly.

Was it truly? Was his suspicion true?

Once he was treated with the Elixir and his pain had completely disappeared, Iudicias made a decision.

"I cannot tell you anything right now. I have to be absolutely sure with my findings before I can tell you anything," Iudicias began, his eyes serious. "But a word of advice, King Regis. Do not use that Ring any more than you absolutely have to."

Lunafreya looked at him with concern. "…Radiance?"

"I cannot tell you," Iudicias repeated. "I have a feeling if I tell you right now, something bad will happen."

The prince frowned. "Something bad?"

Iudicias shook his head. "Something way worse than what just happened."

Everyone exchanged uncomfortable glances as he reached for the glass of water he was given with trembling hands. Aurys helped him, and when he had drunk the content of the glass he sighed in relieve.

"Also, change of plans. Lunafreya, don't go anywhere near the Crystal. Not right now, definitely not without me." Iudicias continued, looking at King Regis. "I will tell you what I found after the peace treaty. I don't want anything hindering the signing, so we will continue this later once everything is in place."

"Alright, if you think that is the best course of action." The King nodded at him.

Iudicias bit his lip. "Also… if you have any records of the origin of the Crystal, the Ring, and the Trident that wasn't in the cosmogony, can you lend them to Lunafreya?"

"Certainly," King Regis agreed.

Iudicias sighed and looked at Lunafreya. "I apologize for leaving the research to you. I'm afraid I have to retire early, King Regis, Prince Noctis."

"Of course. Please rest well, Radiance." Lunafreya nodded, giving him a small smile despite her obvious concern. "If anything happened or if your head started to hurt again, don't hesitate to summon for me, okay? I'm leaving Pryna to keep an eye on you too."

Iudicias smiled at her in thanks and bid farewell to the Lucian royalties.

As he laid in his bed cuddling with Pryna, he closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. This might prove to be more difficult than he thought.

Interference from an Astral, huh?

He narrowed his eyes.

He didn't mind if he died, but if anything happened to Lunafreya, Aurys, or the others… he won't hesitate to be a god-killer himself.

* * *

**End of Chapter Four**

* * *

I just finished Episode Ardyn and I'm… I'm so sad now. Ardyn didn't deserve any of that? Bahamut is such a dick, what the fuck? I can't believe he used Aera to hurt him like that. Guess I was right making him the villain in this story. I'm starting to think that particular Pitioss Ruins theory is real after all.

I also cried fighting Regis, I have a very soft spot for him and beating him up feels like I'm beating my own dad ;_; ((also because I might or might not have a crush on older Regis lmao don't judge my taste in men))

I really, genuinely love the DLC though. Definitely worth the £7.99 I have to pay for it. Exploring Insomnia was so fun even if I'm destroying everything. I love the ost too! Lotus Juice performing Conditioned to Hate is a very pleasant surprise for me. Very fitting too, since we can summon Ifrit like a persona lol.

I'm glad they didn't cancel this DLC at the very least even if I would pay _a lot of money_ to play Noctis's DLC that I heard was going to have an alternate ending where Bahamut is the final boss instead of Ardyn. Also I just saw that art where the chocobros with Ardyn and Lunafreya is having a picnic with Noctis and Luna's children I'm crying it's beautiful I want that ending pls SE cancel the canceling of the other DLCs!

I also love how (in the past) Aera is dressed like a princess while Ardyn's like a hobo. ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT ARDYN'S AND YOUNG VERSTAEL'S HEIGHT DIFFERENCE BECAUSE IT'S MAKING ME WEAK IN THE KNEES


	5. Chapter 5

Finally finished this chapter! I don't know if I will be able to update the next one soon though. I hope I did well at the end of the chapter. It's hard writing down my ideas how I envisioned it in my head ):

Also if you're curious about how I imagined what Iudicias looks like, it's the boy in the cover but with straighter hair and gray eyes. (It's Oz from PH. I actually have that artbook and it's gorgeous I highly recommend if you like PH)

* * *

**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Five**

* * *

"How are you this morning, Iudy?" Lunafreya greeted him the morning, just after he had woken up.

"Better, thanks." He smiled at the girl who smiled back as she helped him fix his hair.

It was usually Aurys who attended to him in the morning, but Lunafreya said that he was needed somewhere else. Probably to give his input for the celebratory ball tomorrow, so it was Lunafreya that helped him today.

Once he had showered, clothed, and had eaten his breakfast, he glanced at the Oracle curiously.

"How was the research yesterday?" he asked her. Lunafreya shook her head as she took out a stack of papers from her research with the prince yesterday from her armiger and handed it to him.

"There's nothing in the Citadel library that you haven't heard before," Lunafreya told him with a disappointed sigh.

Iudicias peered at the papers closely, skimming all the information the girl had scribbled there. "What about the library at Fenestala Manor? Do you think there will be any clues there?"

Lunafreya shook her head again. "I could try asking Maria to look for it if you wish, but the Empire took anything of importance from our records when they attacked all those years ago."

He sighed and put the papers aside. "I see…"

The Oracle saw his frown and sat beside him on the bed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she laid her head on top of his own wistfully.

"What are you thinking, Iudicias? Why do you keep your thoughts to yourself?" she whispered.

He smiled slightly, but he didn't answer her. She sighed and released her hold on his shoulders before she leaned back until her back touched the soft mattress.

"Well… I don't know if this is relevant to what you want to know, but when I was younger I heard a story that the Crystal was a shard of the mother goddess's heart—of Eos's heart," Lunafreya shared. "I do not know if it was true, but after hearing that story I always felt comforted when I felt the warmth of my magic. It made me feel safe like when my mother used to hug me."

Iudicias glanced at her and tilted his head curiously.

"The mother goddess Eos? I never heard of her before," Iudicias told her and the oracle hummed to acknowledge him.

"Yes. It wasn't as well known as the one told in the cosmogony, but that story does exist," she said.

He hummed and laid beside her. "Tell me this story, Lunafreya."

Lunafreya glanced at her him before she closed her eyes, trying to recall the tale from her memories.

"The stories that you were familiar with probably said that the Astrals created the world and the humans based on their image, but the humans betrayed them. This caused Ifrit to wage war with the humans and spread the starscourge as a curse to punish them, but in the end, the Bladekeeper killed him, right?" Lunafreya asked him.

Iudicias nodded to prompt her to continue.

"Well… in this version they said that Eos, was the origin of the scourge," Lunafreya began. "She was the first one to exist in this star. She was a being of pure light that possessed a kind heart and she created the humans first in her image."

"The humans worshipped her, but she got lonely because of her divinity and so she collected different elements that formed the star and gave them a drop of her blood each. They came to life and became the Hexatheons that we knew now," she continued.

"As you know, after a few hundred years the humans' intelligence grew and they decided that they did not need the gods to guide them anymore. Hearing this act of betrayal the gods became angry at them and caused a terrible war to brew between the two races, but Eos refused to join them."

"It was said that she had fallen in love with a human and so, she refused to fight with them," the oracle revealed.

Iudicias raised an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting that but didn't interrupt her tale.

"When Bahamut found out about her affair, he decreed to the other gods that she too was betraying them—that she was impure for joining herself with a human. Some were torn with his decision, but for all that Eos was their creator, as the Bladekeeper Bahamut was stronger than them so they decided to side with him, except for Ifrit, who defied him openly."

"Eos was the goddess of the dawn. She was light itself, and the brightest of light cast the darkest shadows," she told him. "The sadness and chaos in her heart that was born from her abandonment, having to separate from her other half, and the war that was brewing around her dimmed her light and she became vulnerable."

"That chaos mutated into something terrible and infected her with a debilitating sickness that ate up her body from the inside. That sickness was said to be the origin of the starscourge."

Lunafreya paused as she tried to remember again and Iudicias waited patiently for the moment she spoke again.

Finally, the Oracle opened her mouth again.

"Eos isolated herself in the depth of the star in order not to spread her sickness, and the Infernian, who had separated himself from the other five, found her in that state. When he saw her condition he tried to get her out to find a way to heal her, but he was too late and she died just as he got her out into the light again."

"He lit a funeral pyre in the hopes of purifying her body, and all that remained of her when the fire died down was a shard of her heart that remained untouched by the sickness—a shard in the form of a magical crystal that radiated the purest of light," Lunafreya continued.

"But Ifrit didn't know that by doing that he was unleashing her sickness into the world. He didn't notice it for he was so angry and so, so, sad. Overcame with grief, he went on to burn everything that rejected Eos and contributed to her death. Even his other half, Shiva, couldn't still the rage in his heart."

"In the end, he was defeated by the combined effort of the humans and the Astrals. They scratched Eos's name from history in the aftermath, and Ifrit was blamed for everything. The Astrals went to a deep sleep after putting the shard of Eos's heart into the hands of the humans that fought with them, and the rest is as we know it right now." Lunafreya looked up to see Iudicias' eyes and smiled sadly. "That was the end of the story."

Iudicias was silent for a while before he covered his eyes with his arm.

"What a morbid story," he commented.

Lunafreya laughed at his comment. "Indeed. I wonder why Gentiana told me that story when I was so little. I couldn't sleep for days after, imagining what happened."

"Gentiana told you that story?" Iudicias asked in surprise. He rose from the bed and turned to face her. "The High-Messenger of _Shiva_ told you that?"

The Oracle nodded at his question, looking a bit confused. "I always thought that it was just a weird fairy tale Gentiana told to entertain me when I was in captivity, but now that you mentioned it, it _was _kind of weird that she would tell me something like that."

Iudicias gnawed on his lips, torn between wanting to press more and not wanting to know at the same time, but chances were there was some truth to that story if it was a High-Messenger that told her that.

Of course, it could be that the Messenger was biased towards Ifrit because she was Shiva's and wanted to justify his actions, but he had a feeling that it wasn't that, especially after what happened the day prior.

The question now was how did this story fit in in the grand scheme of things?

"Let's not think about this right now." Iudicias finally settled, telling Lunafreya who looked at him with confusion. He just smiled slightly and shrugged as he rose from his seat. "What is the plan for today?" he asked to distract her.

It worked and Lunafreya perked up again.

"Noctis wants to extend an invitation for lunch at the Citadel. Aurys will be free to attend to you shortly before lunch too. Will you be accepting his invitation?"

Iudicias hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm the Citadel is great, but I want to explore the city. Can you ask the prince if he wanted to join us instead? We can have lunch somewhere else. I heard that the citizens are having a festival, there must be someone selling food there right?"

"That doesn't sound too bad actually. Noctis would love to join, I think," Lunafreya beamed at him as she walked towards the phone provided in their suite. "I will call him to confirm though. Please wait a moment, Iudy."

"Okay. I'm going to change my robes into something more acceptable in the streets," he said before yelling out, "Tell the prince to wear a disguise, we're going incognito!"

* * *

.

* * *

The prince accepted her invitation, of course. Like he was going to turn down the chance to spend time with Lunafreya. He agreed to meet them at the hotel lobby in two hours, once Aurys had come back from the Citadel.

Prince Noctis actually blushed when he saw Lunafreya in the baby blue modest sundress she wore for the outing. It made Iudicias proud of himself since he was the one who had that made for her. He himself opted for a chocobo print t-shirt and jeans while Aurys wore a neat white button up and jeans.

The blond told Iudicias to just stay in the hotel and rest for the duration of this free day, but Iudicias's puppy eyes won the argument for that easily.

"Where do you want to go anyway?" Prince Noctis asked when they were seated on the bus. Iudicias grinned at him.

"Well… I just want to go to the festival, explore the city, and try Insomnian street food first. I want to go to your recommended shopping center after lunch though. We're going shopping!" Iudicias told him cheerfully. "I've heard that you Insomnians make skewers out of Marlboro, is that true?"

The prince's shield made a face. "You want to eat that? That shit's nasty."

Aurys glared at him for his use of language and the prince's adviser jabbed the side of his abs with his elbow for the blond. "Gladio here hates Marlboro so don't you listen to his opinion. Marlboro meat is quite tasty if cooked correctly."

Lunafreya glanced at the prince who shrugged. "Don't ask me. I never tried it. But Specs cooks the best meal so if he says it's tasty, it should be true."

Ignis' cheeks tinted pink at that comment, but he didn't deny it.

All of Insomnia was celebrating the upcoming peace with a week-long festival that started three days before the signing, which meant today was the second day and so a lot of people were still hyped up for it. The streets are full of decorations and people milling around.

Street vendors calling out to attract customers, the laughter of children and smiles of their parents—they were sounds that made Iudicias's heart warm and his insides full of happiness.

He dragged everyone everywhere and made the prince and his retinue took a lot of photos for them. The prince even captured their expressions as he and Lunafreya tried the infamous Yamachang's Malbo Smul skewers, which was hilarious. He never saw Lunafreya's face contorted in that way before.

He laughed when Lunafreya choked on the spicy treat and the prince fluttered around her and patted her back trying to ease her coughs. The way she glared at him promised _retribution, _but it was worth it.

He forced Aurys to pose with him in front of some monuments he saw on the way to the citadel on the first day and ate a lot of weird food with Lunafreya and the prince.

It was honestly the most fun he had in his new life as Iudicias. After years of planning the entire coup, fighting, and then months of working and trying to fix their broken empire, having this break felt liberating and Iudicias could finally enjoy life again.

He was about to drag them to the nearest Guardian of Lucis statue when he caught a glimpse of yellow feathers in the distance.

He gasped, making the prince's adviser turn to look at his line of sight.

"Wiz Chocobo Post is opening a chocobo rental and petting zoo for the festival. I believe one can rent a chocobo with 100 gil or 1000 yen for a ride around the sector," Scientia provided as he adjusted his glasses while the others turned to look at the birds that were surrounded by a flock of small children.

Iudicias made a sound that resembled a man being strangled and turned towards Aurys, giving him his best kicked-puppy look.

"I want to ride them! Please, Auryyys?" he begged shamelessly as he clung on the blond's arm.

"What if you fall and get injured? You know the ball is tomorrow and you have to open the dance. You can't afford to get any injuries now, especially after what happened yesterday." Aurys frowned, shaking his head.

"I won't, I promise!" Iudicias rolled his eyes before he pouted again. "Besides Lunafreya can heal me if anything happens. Right, Luna?" He shot a pleading glance at Lunafreya, who looked thoroughly amused at his shameless begging.

"I want to ride too if that's alright." Lunafreya smiled at Aurys and Iudicias beamed at her for her response. Lunafreya's such a good girl, playing along with his whims like that.

Aurys bit his lip for a moment before he sighed, conceding.

"Alright, but be careful okay?" Aurys huffed as he handed both him and Lunafreya the money to rent the birds. (The chancellor was the one who held all the funds for this trip here to prevent his emperor from buying overpriced junks aimed at dumb tourists like him.)

He whooped after he got the money and dragged Lunafreya by the hand to where the chocobo rent was, the prince and his entourage following them behind in exasperation.

Wiz was an absolute darling and welcomed their group merrily. He adored Iudicias' enthusiasm about his lovely chocobos and let him pet as many of the birds as he liked. Again, he made the prince take a lot of photos for him.

The prince laughed in amusement.

"You reminds me of my friend," Prince Noctis said, shaking his head slightly. "He's crazy about chocobos too."

Iudicias grinned at him as he fed another chocobo. "Sounds like a great person."

The prince grinned at that. "He is. He's good at taking pictures too. These photos would probably look ten times better if he was the one taking it."

"You are not that bad though, it's fine. It's just for my own personal documentation after all," Iudicias assured him as he approached Wiz again. "I want to rent five chocobos to ride, please!"

The prince tilted his head in confusion. "Five? Not two?"

He nodded. "One for me, one for you and Lunafreya, each for your adviser and your shield, and one more for Aurys of course! Do you think we're going by ourselves?"

Aurys jerked in surprise.

"_Me_?" The blond squeaked, glancing at him in panic. "Oh, no, no. Your Radiance. I'm bad with animals, see. I cannot possibly ride them."

Iudicias rolled his eyes. "Chocobos are tame and they're trained to carry people, Aurys. Don't be scared now, we cannot do this in Niflheim you know!"

Aurys shook his head, looking pale. "I would rather you order me to face a pack of coeurls and master tonberries _alone_, thank you."

He said that, but as always when both he and Lunafreya gave him matching pleading looks he caved in without much more protests to his utter delight. The chancellor was shaking as he got on his chocobo, but his face was carefully blank. It was hilarious.

They kept a nice pace as they rode the chocobos, with Iudicias leading, Lunafreya (who was riding sideways with the prince because she's wearing a skirt) and the prince's retinue slightly behind him, and Aurys still panicking in the back.

He was about to taunt the blond again when he heard a small cry from the back before Aurys' chocobo suddenly zoomed past him in a burst of speed. Iudicias couldn't help it, he laughed at the way the blond was clinging to his chocobo's neck.

"Ahahaha—oh crap, he's actually going to fall!" Iudicias panicked when he saw the blond was leaning to the side. "Hold on, Aurys!"

Before he could even get near his chancellor, however, the blond swayed sideways and off the chocobo. He gasped and was about to apparate to catch him when a burst of crystalline particles shot past him and a man in black uniform caught Aurys in his stead.

"Easy there," the man said, chuckling a little as he set Aurys on the ground again. The poor blond looked pale and queasy, still wrapping his arms around his savior's neck tightly.

"Oh no. Are you okay, Aurys?" Iudicias fretted as he stepped down from his own chocobo. "Are you hurting anywhere?"

Aurys shook his head, but he was still not letting go of his savior. His hands and knees were shaking too, the poor guy.

"Let's not do that again," he said instead as he finally released his hold from the man in the dark uniform. When he did, Iudicias could see his face clearly and saw that it was his Kingsglaive guard. He could see there were two other glaives in the distance too now that he knewwhat to look for.

"Sir Ulric, was it? Thank you so much for catching him," Iudicias said, nodding his head at the man who took his gratitude in stride. Aurys nodded too and murmured his own gratitude to the man.

"No problem, Emperor. Can't let our important guest get himself injured within our walls after all," he said, grinning roguishly.

Iudicias returned his grin with double the enthusiasm. "Are you and your fellow glaives here to enjoy the festivities as well?"

"They're here to guard our outings, actually." The prince chimed in as he helped Lunafreya down, having only just caught up with them. "Good job, Glaive Ulric."

"Just doing my job, Your Highness." The glaive saluted and gave a smirk to Aurys, which made the blond's cheeks redden in embarrassment.

Iudicias hide a smile behind his hand. Aurys always tried to look so mature and stern because of his position in the empire and now he was being seen by others of another country being just a normal human, he must feel awkward.

He glanced at Prince Noctis, still smiling slightly. "You have guards following you everywhere, Prince Noctis?"

The prince scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well… I'm kind of the only prince Lucis has after all."

Iudicias gave him a sympathizing look. "That must be stifling. I can't imagine being followed everywhere 24/7," he paused, glancing at the Glaive. "No offense to Sir Ulric, of course."

The man gave him a small smile. "None taken, Sir."

Lunafreya and Aurys gave him a look that he couldn't read though.

"But… you always have a guard with you too? You are our Emperor, Iudy, of course you have a guard with you at all time," Lunafreya reminded him with a confused frown. "Don't tell me you never noticed…"

"No I don't?" Iudicias laughed before he saw that the oracle was not joking. Now it was his turn to be confused. "No, seriously. I don't?"

Lunafreya rolled her eyes, muttering something about him being a helpless blockhead under her breath. "You know how either Ravus, Loqi, Aranea, or Aurys is always with you whenever you decided to leave the palace grounds? Yes, _Radiance_, they are your guards."

Iudicias popped his mouth open in surprise. "I thought they came with me as my friend…"

"We _are_ your friend, but we are also there as your bodyguard. We know the MTs would make you uneasy so we arranged to always have either one of us to guard you," Aurys explained exasperatedly, likely questioning why his liege was so oblivious.

"Huh. I honestly never noticed." Iudicias scrunched his face a bit. "Oh, now I'm going to be so conscious of you guys. This is weird."

Aurys sighed, clearly exhausted.

"Well, I'm going back to my post then. Your Highnesses. Emperor." Glaive Ulric finally said after a while, waiting for Prince Noctis to acknowledge it before he disappeared back into the crowds where he and the other glaives were stalking them from afar.

He looked at Aurys and smiled.

"Hop on with me," he told his chancellor who paled again at the thought of riding.

"I have to ride again?" Aurys asked weakly.

"We do need to return these lovely birds to their owner." He laughed as he helped the blond up the chocobo. "Come on, I won't let you fall."

They rode back to Wiz's post safely without any incident, thankfully. His chancellor still looked a bit shaky and pale when they finally arrived, but he assured Iudicias that he would be fine in a bit. Seeing him like that made him feel a bit guilty for coaxing him into riding with them.

"So where to this time?" Prince Noctis asked him as he stretched his arms.

"I think Aurys have had enough of the festival for now. Should we go shopping now if everyone still has the energy?" he suggested and for the first time that day, Aurys sighed in relieve. Iudicias laughed at the expression that he made, which made the blond huff in mock-indignation.

* * *

.

* * *

Niflheim has a lot of great things, but fashion was not one of them.

Lucian clothing styles greatly resembled Earth's fashion too, which was very tempting for him. Because he didn't know when he will get the chance to do it again so he splurged and bought a whole new wardrobe of t-shirts with dumb designs and comfortable sweat pants that he gave to Lunafreya to be stored in her armiger.

He also teamed up with Prince Noctis and made Lunafreya try on various dresses and accessories, which the prince ended up buying as a present for her. The girl already has a dress to wear for the party tomorrow, but nothing wrong with having more.

After three hours of shopping and wandering around at the festival earlier, everyone was pretty beat up and hungry, so Iudicias decided to thank them for humoring him by treating them for dinner.

"Do you know a good place?" he asked the prince as Scientia called for a vehicle for them to ride to the eating place.

"I know a great place," Prince Noctis mentioned offhandedly.

"Prompto's place?" his shield ask with a huff. When Prince Noctis nodded, the Amicitia huffed a small laugh. "He's going to freak that you brought the Emperor of Niflheim to his workplace," he joked, which made the prince laugh.

Iudicias cocked his head curiously at the name.

"Prompto?"

Prince Noctis grinned at him and nodded.

"The friend I mentioned before," he said. Then he paused and glanced at Aurys momentarily. "Though… don't be surprised when you see him? He kinda looks a lot like the chancellor, see."

Aurys blinked, not expecting his words. "Like me?"

"Yeah… slightly different hair color and lip shape, maybe, but you could pass as siblings easily," he explained.

"Now that I think about it, he _does_ look like the Chancellor," Amicitia mused.

"You just realizing that now?" Scientia asked, sighing.

Iudicias, Aurys, and Lunafreya exchanged glances, their mind coming to the same conclusion about the prince's friend.

Iudicias had read of the report of an incident about several baby clones that were stolen by a lab assistant from a facility when he took over the empire, of course, but the information had slipped from his mind since it wasn't that important of a matter compared to what he had to do at the time.

It happened almost two decades ago and the cloned babies usually couldn't handle living without all the support the labs provided for them anyway, so he didn't think too much about it and focused his attention to other more important matters.

But… from Prince Noctis's words, it was likely that this friend of his was one of those stolen babies. The fact that he managed to survive his childhood was already amazing enough, but he also ended up in Insomnia and somehow became the crown prince's friend? Fate worked in a mysterious way as always.

Iudicias smiled at the prince.

"What a coincidence. Don't you think so, Aurys?"

His chancellor nodded, a tense smile on his own face. "I look forward to meeting him."

* * *

.

* * *

The ride to the restaurant where this Prompto worked passed quickly.

Lunafreya took it upon herself to make small talks with the Lucians so the drive wasn't uncomfortable for them, considering how tense their chancellor was getting.

Aurys confided once to him that he felt guilty because back when he was still under Verstael's influence and before he was assigned his private assistant, he had partaken on the experiments himself. He knew it wasn't his fault and that he was trying his best to make the life of his clone siblings as normal as possible considering their situation, but he still felt responsible.

He smiled sympathetically at the older man and squeezed his hand to offer some comfort.

The fast-food restaurant was empty when they arrived, most likely their usual customers were still out enjoying the festival. There was only one person manning the counter too—a teenage boy with blond hair and a face that look similar to Aurys.

He was humming a cheery tune when they walked in, and his face immediately bloomed into a smile when he took in the sight of the prince and his retinue.

"Noct!"

The boy greeted loudly with a smile before his eyes darted to Iudicias, Lunafreya, and Aurys and his smile dropped. Iudicias resisted the urge to sigh. The air became so cold all of a sudden that the prince and his retinue noticed.

"Prom, let me introduce you," Prince Noctis announced to try to dispel the tension. He smiled at Lunafreya tenderly as he gestured towards her. "This is Princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, the oracle and my childhood friend."

Lunafreya smiled kindly at him as she nodded her head. Prompto managed a smile back before the prince continued with his introduction.

"And this is the Emperor of Niflheim, Iudicias Aldercapt, and his Chancellor, Aurys Besithia," he continued before turning to Prompto. "Everyone, this is my best friend, Prompto Argentum."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Argentum," Iudicias said, trying to give a reassuring smile at the boy as he seemed to freeze in his anxiety.

"T-the honor is mine, Y-your Radiance," the boy stuttered nervously.

Seeing the boy's mounting anxiety, Iudicias finally took pity on him and turned towards the prince and his retainers.

"I apologize, Prince Noctis. Could you let me talk with Mr. Argentum here?" Iudicias asked, smiling apologetically at the Lucian prince. "_Alone_," he added when the prince hesitated.

Lunafreya helped him by taking the prince's hand and smiled at him reassuringly, but Prince Noctis still glanced at his friend with concern even as he allowed himself to be dragged by the oracle.

The teen, left alone with a foreign nation's emperor, somehow became even paler.

Iudicias smiled at him kindly as he let out a small sigh.

"May I?" Iudicias asked, holding out his hand to the older boy.

Argentum hesitated for a long while, but he finally laid his right hand on top of Iudicias's. Gently, Iudicias slid the wristband that he was wearing upwards and sure enough, there was a familiar barcode there, branded onto otherwise clean skin.

Serial number N-iP01357 with production code 05953234. He was one of the earlier clones, it seemed, from different egg group and year than Aurys—which explained the subtle differences on their lip and eye shape, but everything else was practically the same.

"…Are you here to take me back?" Argentum asked shakily, clenching the bottom of his apron with his left hand as Iudicias examined his code.

"Take you back?" Iudicias frowned in confusion before it finally clicked in his mind. _Oh_. He thought they were there to arrest him? "No, of course not. You have your own life here. Who am I to take it away from you?"

At last, hope appeared in the boy's eyes. "Really?"

Iudicias chuckled, releasing his hand.

"Yes, really. It was just a coincidence that Prince Noctis brought us here. I think he wants to show you off to Lunafreya," he joked, trying to make the boy more comfortable. "I take it that you knew what you are, then?"

Argentum was silent for a while before he finally nodded.

"Not the details, but I've had my suspicions," Argentum admitted with a whisper. "A Niflheimian boy with a strange tattoo on his wrist… I've wondered for years what it meant, but then I saw the same tattoo on the new chancellor's wrist in the newspaper a few months ago."

"I see," Iudicias said finally. "Do you want to hear the details then?"

The boy bit his lip, hesitating, but he nodded.

Iudicias told him then of the cloning facility that the empire conducted in order to make their soldiers. Argentum looked horrified as he told him the truth, but he stayed strong even if he looked like he was going to be sick.

"A clone that was supposed to become MagiTek…?" he murmured in disbelief.

Iudicias nodded and shot him an apologetic look.

"Niflheim had done you and a great deal of others a grievous mistake, but I am glad that you found your place here, free from the horrors that hundreds of your siblings endured because of my late father."

He paused and looked at the boy's eyes before continuing. "I know my words may weigh nothing to you, but I would like to offer you my sincerest apologies for everything that have been done to you, Mr. Argentum."

Iudicias bowed as low as what would be acceptable for someone of his station—which was just about the area of his head, but it was something. He had done the same thing for the other clones they saved months ago, so it was only right for him to apologize to this boy too.

Mr. Argentum looked so stunned by the turn of events that his jaw dropped for a while before the panic finally sunk in.

"No, no! Don't lower your head for me, I'm not worth it, please! I don't even remember any of it, honestly. I was just a baby, after all! Oh gods, they're looking at us, Emperor, please raise your head!" Argentum babbled, waving his hands around him as he fluttered over him, trying to get him to raise his head because indeed the other Lucians were watching them.

Iudicias finally raised his head and saw the boy's cheeks burned red in embarrassment, realizing what he was babbling at the _Emperor _of Niflheim. Iudicias smiled, partly in amusement and partly trying to reassure the older boy that he wasn't in trouble with him. His words, though…

"I'm glad if you are not too affected by this revelation, Mr. Argentum, but please do not say that you are not worth it, okay?" Iudicias said, admonishing him a bit for his choice of words. "The circumstances of your birth might not be ideal, but it doesn't determine your worth and you should not feel ashamed or inferior because of it. You are just as human and important as the rest of us, Mr. Argentum."

Hearing his words, at first the boy looked hesitant, but when he saw that Iudicias was being genuine, a shy smile finally appeared on his face.

He smiled back at the boy. Reassuring people was never his specialty, it was more of Lunafreya's forte, but it seemed like he wasn't doing too bad at this.

"Are you happy here, Mr. Argentum?" Iudicias asked the older teen.

"Just Prompto, please. And I… I am." Prompto smiled bashfully. "My family's away most of the time, but I've got great friends here."

Iudicias saw him glancing at the prince and his retinue and chuckled.

"I'm glad then," he said and was rewarded with a brighter smile from the boy, but then Prompto looked down again and went to clasp his wristband with his left hand, wringing it nervously as he bit his lip in apprehension.

"…What will happen after this?" the older boy asked in an unsure tone.

"It depends on what you want to do," Iudicias answered easily. "I would offer education and workplace to you like what I did for your other siblings, but I have a feeling that you want to stay here. Am I wrong?"

Prompto shook his head. "No… I do want to stay here."

"Then stay," Iudicias told him firmly. "Do what makes you happy. Just know that my doors are open should you decide to take up that offer in the future."

Prompto looked up at him in surprise, then his body finally relaxed and a genuine smile returned to decorate his face again.

"Thank you, Your Radiance."

Iudicias grinned at him.

"You're welcome! Now let's go back to the prince and his retinue. My Aurys and Lunafreya really want to talk to you too," he said, looping his arms around the older boy and started to drag him towards where the others were seated.

Prompto panicked and looked reluctant but didn't resist his tugging.

"But, the restaurant—"

Iudicias chuckled. "It's alright. Aurys have flipped the sign to close, see? We're booking this place for the rest of the night. Come on, meet my friends," Iudicias told him.

"What was that all about?" The Prince demanded when they got to the table. Iudicias shook his head and gave him a secretive grin.

"Sorry about that! There was a personal business that we need to discuss, but it's done now. Don't worry!" he said cheerfully.

"What business?" Prince Noctis pressed with a frown.

"Did you miss the part where I said '_personal'_?" Iudicias rolled his eyes, causing Aurys to glare over his manner. He wisely ignored him and smirked at the bristling prince. So overprotective.

"I'm super hungry, by the way. Can I order now?"

He glanced towards the manager of the restaurant, who was standing across the room watching them in nervousness, probably not expecting royalties to dine at his place. Scientia called him over and they discussed loudly what to order.

While they were bickering, he saw the prince taking his best friend aside and talked softly to him.

"Are you alright?" Prince Noctis asked the other boy, who nodded to reassure him.

"Yeah. The Emperor was super nice," he admitted. Prompto looked down nervously and played with his wristband as he mustered up his courage. "Noct… there's something I want to share with you guys, but… I'm not ready to tell it now. Can you wait until I'm ready?"

The prince was silent for a while, but he agreed in the end.

"Of course," he said, smiling as he squeezed his friend's hands.

Back at the table, Iudicias shared a smile with Lunafreya and Aurys. Hopefully, things will get better for them too in time. For now, though, they will dine until their heart was satisfied.

* * *

**End of Chapter Five**

* * *

Fun fact: I almost make this an omegaverse story just to fuck with Harry lmao. He's an omega (obviously) and in the end he's supposed to be with alpha Iris. She gained a crush on him at the treaty celebration party, but Harry wasn't attracted to children and didn't even notice her. Years later she became this really dashing and strong daemon-slayer and came to Niflheim to court Harry again. Even though Harry was obtuse and didn't realize that she was trying to woo him, Iris kept trying and in the end they got married.

I discarded the idea completely though lol. I don't think Harry will get a pairing in this story at all tbh. The direction I'm taking this story just made a completely different turn after Episode Ardyn and adding a pairing will just mess everything up :")

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm really excited for next chapter! I think this story will end in about 5 more chapters.


	6. Chapter 6

**Me:** I won't write too much about the ball.

**Also me:** *Wrote nearly 3k words of the ball*

Loqi and Aranea arrived at Insomnia for the party and to guard the signing. They just weren't there for the meetings. I was going to include the scene where they arrived last chapter, but it slipped my mind lol. Please pretend that I've written it, thank you.

Also, age as of this chapter (putting this here because I always forget about them): Iris (almost 12), Iudicias (13), Prompto (17), Noctis (17), Ignis (19), Gladio (20), Lunafreya (21), Loqi (21), Aurys (24), Ravus (25), Aranea (26), Nyx (29), Cor (41), Regis (47), Clarus (52).

* * *

**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Six**

* * *

Iudicias had been invited to various social functions before, both in his previous life as Harry or in his current life. His vast experiences with them didn't mean that he _liked _them though.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is a bad idea, Aurys. I can't dance. I will trip and bring shame to Niflheim."

Iudicias grumbled at his chancellor as the older man helped him put on his complicated layers of robes. It was like the fancy robe he wore for the negotiation meetings, but _fancier _with _even more_ real gold embroidery_. _He was honestly kind of worried about the amount of money they spent on his formal attire.

Why couldn't Niflheim emperors wore something simpler like a suit, like the Lucian kings do? He lamented as he saw the ridiculously lavish fabrics that adorned his body.

Oh wait, he's the emperor. He could change the tradition, right?

"Lady Lunafreya is your partner, it'll be alright," Aurys rolled his eyes as he fastened the buttons on his back. "You might be hopeless at dancing, but she is not."

Iudicias pouted as he let Aurys moved on to styling his hair. As the blond brushed his blond locks so that it didn't stick out so much, someone knocked on the other side of the door before it opened, revealing Lunafreya's head peeking through the tiny gap hesitantly before she finally stepped inside.

Iudicias gasped seeing her.

"Oh, you look beautiful, Lunafreya," he complimented her honestly. "And you're wearing the earrings the prince bought you too. He'll be happy to see you wearing them."

Indeed, to complete her silver and white Niflheim-style formal dress, Lunafreya was wearing the beautiful drop earrings that Prince Noctis bought for her yesterday on their shopping trip. It suited her face shape and complemented her hairdo and make-up nicely. The prince really chose well.

A faint dusting of pink appeared across the girl's face and she looked down reservedly from his words. "You think so?"

Iudicias smiled at her and nodded. "Of course. What man wouldn't like seeing the woman he loves wearing something he had gifted to her?"

Hearing that, the oracle flushed even more.

"Oh stop, Iudy!" Lunafreya hissed in embarrassment as she covered her burning cheeks with her hands, making both Aurys and he chuckled. She pouted a little and huffed, but it was clear that she was happy.

She suddenly perked up as though remembering something though and glanced at him with hesitation.

"That's right. Iudy… I have a request," Lunafreya began with hesitation.

He cocked his head slightly. "What is it?"

"Well, you know how King Regis's legs are, right?" Lunafreya asked, to which he nodded. "So you know, he couldn't possibly dance the opening and Ignis said the task is passed on to Noctis instead…"

"Oh, I know where this is going," Iudicias grinned at her. "You want to dance with him?"

"I know we planned to dance the opening together, but…" Lunafreya bit her lower lip as she nodded, actually looking guilty. Iudicias chuckled and reached out to squeeze her hands reassuringly, as best as he could with Aurys still pulling his hair in whichever direction as he styled it.

"It's fine. I'll dance with someone else, you go be with your prince," he teased. "Maybe Aurys will be willing to dance with me instead."

"No, thank you," the older blond answered curtly. Must be the trauma of having his toes stepped on when he was teaching him how to dance.

Lunafreya beamed and pulled him into a hug. "Oh, thank you so much. I will tell him that I accept, then."

They watched as Lunafreya merrily went to the phone in the other room to deliver the good news and shared a fond glance.

Iudicias sighed. "Tell Aranea that she is to dance the opening with me," he told his chancellor who nodded.

"I suppose she is a fine substitute for your partner. Even if she couldn't lead you well, her posture is good and she possessed the ability to keep her face straight if you stepped on her toes," Aurys hummed thoughtfully.

"Rude!" he laughed.

Aurys then set his hair with a spray and put down his tools, declaring him ready. He thanked the man and looked over himself one last time before he donned his outer robe, thankful for his magic and cooling charm so that he didn't have to sweat in Insomnia's weather. The Niflheim Imperial robe was not designed with hot weather in mind, clearly.

Aranea looked amused and smirked at Lunafreya teasingly when she was told the reason why she had been chosen as his partner, but she bore no ill intent. Everyone was happy to see Lunafreya finally able to act like a normal girl her age.

Well… maybe everyone except for Ravus and his sister-complex.

* * *

.

* * *

Despite his worries, the dance actually went well.

"Don't look down, Radiance. I may not dance as well as the Lady, but I won't let you trip," Aranea assured him as they walked across the ballroom.

A lot of eyes followed them as they reached the center. They must look weird, with Iudicias and his predominantly white robe and Aranea with her magenta rose-decorated dress and high-heeled pumps that made her even taller than him, but mismatched as they were, he thought they made a strikingly good pair.

They smiled at Lunafreya who was being led by Prince Noctis after them, and when they reached the center, the music finally started and they danced.

He let Aranea lead his movements as they moved to the music, stepping and twirling around each other.

He ended up actually enjoying himself, even if he did step on Aranea's toes one time. He surprised Aranea for being able to lift her completely off the floor at the end of the dance, even as his hands shook a little at the task and they shared a little laugh, not caring of their audiences.

When it was over, they bowed to each other and to the audience who gave the pairs a thunderous clapping. He beamed at Aurys who gave him a proud smile back.

Following the dance was the usual socializing he had to endure. Thankfully he didn't have to go through them all because he was the emperor now, not the heir anymore and he may choose who he talked to.

Iudicias spent nearly the entire time being shadowed by Aurys who provided him with the names of the nobles that greeted him throughout the night, but even he couldn't stay with him the entire night. The moment Aurys had to go, he found himself lost in the throngs of people, so he tried to find his other friends to hide behind.

His court members were out socializing with the other nobles, so they were out. He didn't want to get dragged back into entertaining strangers with small talks about his plans with Niflheim, thank you very much.

Then he saw Aranea, who had went back to her actual date for the night, Ravus. He had seen the two of them spent the entire time that night either being surrounded by people looking for an 'interview' or talking quietly with each other near the table, looking exhausted but still alert.

He didn't think he should bother them.

He looked around again, seeing Loqi this time. The young man was childishly taunting Cor Leonis who was drinking a glass of some Lucian alcoholic drink, staying silent but looking _very_ irritated and seconds away from slicing Loqi with his katana.

He inched away from them discreetly, not wanting to get involved at all.

When he looked around this time, he saw Lunafreya and Prince Noctis on the balcony. Lunafreya was laughing at something the prince was saying, and the prince grinned at her. Iudicias swore he could see the prince's heart eyes from where he was standing.

He wasn't so tactless as to intrude on their moment, so he sighed and tried to find someone else to bother.

He was just about to give up and go back to King Regis and his Shield's sides when he caught sight of Aurys talking with a Kingsglaive that was guarding the party. He squinted, trying to get a better look and saw—Sir Ulric.

Something clicked on his mind when he saw how comfortable Aurys looked talking to the older man and he smiled to himself, deciding to go back to the Lucian King after all.

Somehow he felt lonely that night, despite the number of people attending the ball. Seeing all the happy people finding each other made him miss what he used to have. His lovely and greying wife, his children, and their own children.

What were they doing now, he wondered?

Iudicias sighed. "Maybe I was homesick…"

He went to one of the drinking tables and snatched a random glass, downing the entire content in one go. He heard a gasp and turned towards the source, a young girl with black hair, brown eyes, and black dress that was covering her mouth with lace-gloved hands.

"The drinks from that table all have alcohol, Your Radiance," the girl said in what he thought was a mix of shock and amusement.

Iudicias raised an eyebrow and sniffed the glass in his hands, finding her words true but shrugged anyway. He was probably going to regret it in the morning, but whatever, right?

He huffed at her as he put the glass down back at the table.

"I'm the emperor, I can do whatever I want!" He declared, feeling slightly bubbly already. The girl lowered her hands from her mouth, revealing her upturned amused lips. He walked towards her and grinned widely.

"What's your name? I'm Iudicias," he introduced himself.

"I know," the girl giggled. "My name is Iris Amicitia, Your Radiance."

"Amicitia?" Iudicias blinked in confusion. "You are Gladiolus's sister?"

Iris Amicitia nodded. "Yes, I am."

"But… but you're small. Gladiolus is like…" he frowned then stood on his tiptoes, stretching his arms up until he couldn't anymore and flailed. "_This big._"

Iris giggled again.

"I'm only almost twelve. I will grow as tall as him someday, I hope," Iris said, smiling as she watched him right himself.

Iudicias was the one to giggle this time. "You want to be as tall as he is?"

"Yeah! With all the muscles too!" Iris shared with him enthusiastically. "I want to become a daemon-slayer and replace Cor as the Crownsguard marshal when I grow up!"

Iudicias eyed her slender arms for a moment, imagining the little girl in front of him growing up into a 190 cm beefy lady carrying a big ax on her shoulder. He nodded, his alcohol-addled mind approving of the image.

"I know you can do it," Iudicias told her with all the wisdom he could muster at the moment, then he blinked at their empty surroundings. "What are you doing here alone though?"

Iris's smile dropped a little. "Well, dad is guarding the King, mom is gossiping with Countess Candor, and Gladdy is stalking Noct so I chose to stay here," she explained with a pout. "You know, just being a wallflower until the party ends like what I always do in an event like this."

"Why don't you mingle with the other children?" Iudicias asked in confusion, pointing at the other children of the nobles who were gathering amongst themselves in one section of the ballroom. Iris huffed and turned her nose upwards.

"I will not consort with those snooty kids, thank you very much," she said, snootily.

Iudicias laughed, amused at the irony of her declaration even though she probably didn't mean to do it. She looked up at him unsurely, not knowing why he laughed but returned his smile anyway.

The girl was sweet, honestly. In a bratty, innocent way. She reminded him of his own children when they were younger.

"Well, if you don't want to consort with those snooty kids, why don't you consort with _this _snooty kid?" Iudicias asked her, grinning when she blinked at him. "Come on, let's join the other dancers."

He grabbed her hands and dragged her to the center of the room where other pairings are still waltzing. The music that was being played was quick and playful thankfully, he preferred this to slow dances. Iris shot him a hesitant look.

"Emperor, wait, I can't dance very well yet—" She said, biting down on her lip, but Iudicias just waved off her concern.

"_I _can't dance too. It's alright, nobody will care. We're here to have fun, Iris," he told her as he twirled her along with the music. She giggled and let him lead her.

They were awful dancers, but they were enjoying themselves. The pleasant buzz underneath his skin from the drink before making him feel so relaxed that he didn't care that people were actually watching their awful dancing.

They giggled as they bumped into another pair of dancers, shouting apologies to them amidst their laughter.

They spun some more and stepped around each other and when the music was nearing its climax Iudicias got the bright idea to lift her as he did with Aranea, only now when he tried to spin her in the air his hands slipped and he dropped the girl right atop of him, causing them both to crash onto the floor.

The music stopped as people around them gasped, but one look into each other's eyes just sent them both laughing instead of being worried over their images.

"Oh gods, Emperor are you alright?" Iris gasped as her laughter faded. She was still grinning as she helped herself off him. Iudicias felt hands supporting his body up too and turned around to see an exasperated Aurys, looking very much like he wanted to slam his face into his hands.

"Aurys, we fell!" He announced loudly to the chancellor, who rolled his eyes upward as he muttered some prayers to keep himself strong.

"I know. I saw it happen, Your Radiance," the man huffed.

He heard some heavy footsteps approaching and heard someone shouting Iris's name. He turned towards the source and saw the older Amicitia sibling running towards them with Lunafreya, the prince, and his adviser in tow.

"Iris!"

"I'm fine, Gladdy," Iris huffed even as he allowed her brother to hoist herself up.

Lunafreya, who had crouch down to check on him, raised an eyebrow when she noticed his flushed face. She leaned in closer and sniffed him, smelling the alcohol scent that had clung to him.

"Radiance, are you drunk?" She asked incredulously.

"Maybe?" Iudicias hummed, sticking his tongue out as he tried to remember before he nodded at the blond. "I think so, yeah. I accidentally drank a glass of something blue from that table earlier."

"Ouch. That's one of the strongest we serve tonight," Prince Noctis grimaced. It wasn't that strong, to be honest, but even a glass of that would be too much for someone so small like him.

"I left you alone for only _15 minutes _and this happened," Aurys muttered under his breath, sounding very tired. Someone chuckled behind him and he saw Sir Ulric standing behind the chancellor in order to give his assistance if needed.

Aurys pinched between his eyebrows before he looked at Iris and bowed at her slightly. "Apologies, Lady Amicitia, for all the troubles our Emperor have caused you tonight."

"Take that back, Aurys! I did not trouble her!" he declared indignantly and Aurys shushed him discreetly as he motioned for someone to come over. Iris laughed merrily when he pouted at the older blond.

"It's fine, Chancellor. Really, I had fun dancing with His Radiance!" Iris said, beaming at him with flushed cheeks. Iudicias beamed back at her and raised his hand to offer a high-five before Aranea suddenly took hold of him and pulled him to his feet.

Aurys sighed.

"I'll take care of this. You get the Emperor back to the hotel," the blond told Aranea, who nodded dutifully.

"You heard the man. Come on, Emperor. It's bedtime now," the Dragoon teased as she supported his body so he could walk back to the car with Ravus following behind them, acting as their guard as she couldn't support him while fighting should anything happen.

Iudicias pouted at her. "But I still want to dance!"

Aranea laughed. "You hate dancing, remember?"

"See you again, Your Radiance!" Iris called out as she waved at him from the distance. He waved back cheerfully before Aranea pulled him out of the room, leaving Aurys and Lunafreya to go do some damage control.

_10/10 would do it again though_, he thought as he fell asleep against Aranea's shoulder in the car.

* * *

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* * *

He took that back.

He wouldn't do it again, his head hurt so much. He swore he used to have a high alcohol tolerance. What happened to him? Oh right. Reincarnation happened and now he has the body of a little boy.

It was morning. The birds chirped too loudly and Aurys pulled open the curtains violently, allowing the sunlight to hit him directly into his face.

"Too bright—" he whined, stuffing his face onto his pillow. Aurys wouldn't even give him that, however.

"Wake up, Radiance. You have to get ready for the signing," Aurys sang, mercilessly pulling his blankets off his body, ignoring his protests. When that didn't work, the older man pulled him up by the arms and tried to shake him awake.

He groaned, making a motion to stop his awful chancellor.

"Stop, my head hurts…" he whined, making the older man roll his eyes.

"That's what you get for not watching what you're drinking!" Aurys admonished even as he handed him a pill and a glass of water. "You're lucky you only ended up with a headache, what if someone decided to poison you?"

Iudicias grimaced, seeing his point.

After he had breakfast, he took a long bath to wake himself up and let Aurys dress him up in another set of fancy robes.

If he felt silly wearing to wear it at night, he felt sillier wearing it in the day. How he envied Aurys's military-style uniform. It's still extra and by no means normal, but more practical than his robes at least. Even his the wizarding world robes he used to wore were more practical.

Lunafreya came in to greet him after he was finished, and together with the rest of his entourage, they ride to the Citadel with the Crown-facilitated cars, passing through a sea of people cheering for them and throwing roses at their car as they passed.

Once they arrived at the Citadel, he waved at the crowds with a smile briefly before he followed the Lucian dignitaries leading them to the hall where they will sign the treaty.

His court members, as well as Ravus, Aranea, Loqi, and Lunafreya sat on their respective seat on the left side of the hall while the Lucian court was on the right side to serve as witnesses for this historic moment.

There was a big table with two marble slate and two fountain pens placed on top of it as well as two tall ornate chairs behind it, clearly meant for him and the king.

King Regis was already seated on his chair and stood when he entered.

He smiled at him when their eyes met and Iudicias blushed, remembering what Aurys had told him about last night after he had been sent back to the hotel.

"I apologize for what happened yesterday, King Regis. It was really unbecoming of me to act that way in your presence," he murmured quietly so that only the king could hear.

He heard a faint chuckle back and glanced at King Regis who was looking at him with fond amusement one would use when talking to a child.

"Do not worry about that, Emperor. That was an accident that could happen to anyone," the King assured as they sat back down to wait for the treaty to be brought to them.

The bearer of the treaty appeared not long after, presenting them with the papers that they need to sign to complete the peace between their two countries. They stood together and took turns signing with the pen they've been provided.

And just like that, the peace had been finalized.

Iudicias smiled at King Regis who returned it, and they shook each other's hands to the sound of everyone clapping for the end of the war that had plagued their countries for more than a century. He glanced at the witnesses, smiling when he saw Lunafreya wiping her tears as Ravus wrapped his arms around her.

Both King Regis and he was escorted outside the Citadel, where they were to give a speech to welcome the new era of peace to the people. They came out on the stage that was prepared for them to the thunderous cheers of the crowds, seeing them crying, screaming, and laughing with joy.

Iudicias glanced at King Regis, whose eyes had become teary as he looked at his people's expressions and felt his own eyes becoming wet with unshed tears. Iudicias nodded at the King, offering his support as the older man stood before the podium.

He hoped that this moment would never be broken.

As the King was about to utter his first words, however, suddenly the ground trembled. The sky above them darkened and the wind rushed violently.

Iudicias gasped as he saw something flying above them in a manner similar to an eagle toying with its prey. He made eye contact with the King, whose face had become tense, and gasped as he saw something heading straight down at them.

"King Regis—" he tried to run to the man, but that thing was coming down faster than his legs could move and he had no choice but to fling his hands at the King, using his magic to fling him away to his Shield's arms.

A giant blade embedded itself into the ground where the King was once standing, and Iudicias breath's quickened as the blood inside him turned cold.

"Your Radiance!"

Someone cried from the left and he saw Aurys running up to him with Ravus on his heels, not noticing another massive sword that was heading straight down at them from the sky. Iudicias shouted warnings at them and blasted the both of them away just in time for the sword to pierce the earth where they were standing.

He gasped as the ground trembled again and tried to look for an opening for him to escape, but every time he tried to run for it another blade pierced down from the heaven, closing his path.

His eyes made contact with Lunafreya, who was being held by Prince Noctis's arms. Both of them looked shocked and horrified at what was happening but still, Lunafreya managed to break herself free from the prince's hold, trying to reach him.

"Iudy—!" She screamed, running towards him.

Iudicias only managed to shake his head at her before another sword closed his line of view, isolating him completely from the outside world.

* * *

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* * *

When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't where he was before.

Instead of the Citadel and the prison of blades, he found himself floating in a realm that he had never seen before. Predominantly blue shifting colors filled his vision as he looked around in alarm, seeing no end or bottom of the place he was trapped in, yet he was standing on something.

Where was he?

What happened to everyone else?

An enormous shadow was cast upon his back, and he whirled around to see the silhouette of Bahamut descending from the sky.

The god stopped just above him so that he would have to raise his head to see him. His wings, made of blades, floated around him before they settled again upon his back as a sword materialized in front of him. He rested his hands on the hilt as he looked down on Iudicias.

Iudicias narrowed his eyes at the show of power that failed to intimidate him.

"Iudicias Aldercapt, I command thee to halt and kneel before me," was the first words to come out of his mouth.

Iudicias defiantly stayed on his feet, disregarding the pretentious order given to him.

"The Bladekeeper Bahamut," he said instead, crossing his arms in a displeased manner. "Why have you taken me here?"

Bahamut glanced down at him from behind the steel mask he was wearing, his eyes devoid of any emotions but contempt, but Iudicias held his stance—not backing down even in the face of a god.

"To stop thy foolish and pointless endeavor," the Bladekeeper answered with his resonant voice.

"And what foolish endeavor have I done to earn your divine intervention, Bladekeeper?" Iudicias asked him again calmly. "I thought you Astrals were supposed to be sleeping until the Oracle wakes you up?"

The Bladekeeper clenched his hands, gripping the hilt of his sword tighter.

"I have stayed in order to protect the will of the star—the will that thee have disrupted," the god declared, not moving from his position. "The future is as it is ordained, and no matter how much thee struggle to change it, so shall it be. It is meaningless to keep trying to change what is to be."

"The will of the star? The star only wants us to save the future, why does it matter how we choose to do it?" he challenged back, narrowing his eyes at the Draconian.

Bahamut eyed him for a moment before he closed his eyes and intoned deeply.

"The prophesied hour—a time when darkness will swallow the Six and the star they protect, shall come soon. At that time, the Crystal shall shed the entirety of its Light unto the ring," Bahamut droned.

"The King of Kings shall be granted a power greater than even that of the Six, purifying all by the Light of the Crystal and the glaives of rulers past, but the blood price must be paid. Only then can the True King receive it and complete his ascension,"

Bahamut opened his eyes, looking down at him again.

"And only then can the immortal Accursed be banished and the Light restored to this world, and so it is ordained. This revelation—the Revelation of Bahamut—shall not be altered by any means. Not by the mortals. nor the undying."

Iudicias gaped at him for a moment, stunned after what he just heard being uttered from the god's mouth.

"I can't believe this. Do you even listen to yourself?" He hissed in disbelieve as the anger finally set in. "Shouldn't you _gods_ be grateful that _we_ are doing something to fix the mess _you_ caused in the first place? We were going to find a way to save the future without costing the life of anyone!"

Bahamut looked down indifferently at him.

"It is the sole means to ending the immortal Accursed. A power greater than even that of the Six, purifying all by the Light of the Crystal and the glaives of rulers past. To cast out the Usurper and usher in dawn's light will cost the life of the Chosen. Any attempts to change what has been foretold will plunge the star into darkness unending."

The Astral said again, purposefully talking in circle to avoid answering any of his questions.

Iudicias suppressed a growl and glared at the god.

"There is nothing wrong with trying!" He yelled at the Astral, his eyes burning with anger. "If we can save the future without sacrificing any life, then why shouldn't we?"

When Bahamut stayed silent in the wake of his outburst, a realization dawned into him.

He didn't want to believe it, but…

The ominous feeling he got from the Ring of the Lucii and the interference he experienced. The swords that came down unto King Regis. How he implied that even if another way existed, they should still go in the path that had been prophesied by the gods…

"…It was your plan from the start, wasn't it? Restoring the light or preventing the darkness from taking over was never your concern in the first place," Iudicias murmured lowly before he raised his head to stare accusingly at the god. "You just want the True King and the Oracle to die."

Bahamut didn't speak yet again, not to deny his accusation nor to defend himself.

_He didn't deny it._

Iudicias felt anger smoldering in his chest.

"Why? What is the point of this?!" he shouted, glaring as he demanded answers from an uncaring god. "Why do you not care for the fate of the people? Why do you want them to die, when you have sworn to protect them?"

"Thine impudence shall prove thine undoing, foolish mortal," Bahamut said instead of answering his question. "Mankind may not realize, everything in this world is preordained. Man exists solely by the grace of the gods and cannot live without."

"You are wrong on that, Bladekeeper," Iudicias retorted hotly. "Humans are given power and the ability to choose, so they could decide their own fate, not just to accept whatever bullshit the 'gods' have chosen for them!"

Bahamut stared down at him coldly. "Pitiful creature. If thou wilt fight against fate, so shall it be."

Iudicias inhaled when he suddenly felt his feet sinking rapidly into the bottomless ground. When he looked down, he saw black tendrils creeping up on his legs, coming out from a pool of dark matter that suddenly appeared beneath his feet.

They twisted, latching on to him and dragged his body into the depth of the darkness below him with surprising force.

"The chaos shall send thee back to whence thee came," Bahamut said, looking down upon his struggles with indifferent eyes. "Thee, who was never supposed to exist, shall return to nothingness, and the future shall continue as it is foretold."

He whipped his head in disbelieve at the Astral who looked down to him indifferently and seethed in anger.

"Kill me if you must, but know that Noctis and Lunafreya will not obediently stay on the path you've paved for them," Iudicias growled at the Astral as he clung onto the edge of the darkness that was dragging him in. The black tendrils crept up his neck and wrapped tightly around his head, pulling him back.

"They will overcome this destiny you wrote for them and you will regret ever looking down on them, Bladekeeper," he spat the god as he sank deeper into the darkness. "We might be mortals, but we are not your playthings!"

The tendrils covered his mouth and tried to pry his hands away from what was keeping him afloat, but he kept on hanging.

Seeing his struggle, Bahamut let out a scoff and threw his sword to the ground, shattering the invisible platform he was clinging to and he fell completely into the bottomless depth. Before he was completely swallowed, he glared at the god one last time, promising himself that he will come back and kill him one day.

No matter what, he will not let the gods rob the future from his friends.

He will not submit to this.

He will not—

* * *

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* * *

Somewhere in the darkness, he heard the sound of bells tolling.

* * *

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* * *

Iudicias gasped and coughed as he opened his eyes.

He was… still alive?

He looked around as he propped himself up with his wobbly arms, seeing that he was lying down on the floor of a hall made of stone. He could see the sky outside—gray and thundery, and heard the sounds of the sea hitting the shore.

He walked slowly to the edge, seeing the abandoned ruins of what he thought was once a strange but beautiful city. Everything was dark and he felt a sense of uneasiness looking down upon it all.

"Where am I?"

His voice rang, echoing off the stones that surrounded him.

"You are standing at the temple of the goddess Etro, in Valhalla."

Suddenly he heard a woman's voice answering him, followed by footsteps that echoed behind him and he whipped his body around, preparing to defend himself.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but what he found was a beautiful rose-haired woman with blue eyes, standing in front of the opening of the hall, looking at him with a knowing pair of eyes.

She was clad in a silver suit of armor and a half-skirt made of feathers, looking like a divine knight and straight up something out of a fairy tale he used to read to his children.

He blinked when she smiled at him slightly.

"Who are you?" he asked, relaxing his stance slightly.

The woman continued to walk, stopping just a few feet away from him.

"My name's Lightning," the woman answered, raising her hand to her chest, bowing slightly. "The goddess had summoned you here, Iudicias Aldercapt."

**End of Chapter Six**

Confession, I used to have a massive crush on Lightning when I was in middle school. She's just really cool and beautiful, I was completely smitten even knowing that she's not real :')

Also writing Bahamut is so hard though so I used a lot of references and canon lines that I just mixed up here and there, forgive me. Normal English is already very hard for me and Bahamut's cryptic speech pattern just makes me want to bang my head on a wall. He's purposefully making himself a headache in here, speaking in circles and answering nothing.

I'm really satisfied with how this chapter turned out though! I don't want to add the tags for this cameo because I feel like it's somewhat of a spoiler but what do you guys think? Should I add them? And don't worry, I have a plan. I can explain everything, I promise! The crossover with XIII is planned from the start ;)


	7. Chapter 7

So this story happens after FFXIII but before FFXIII-2, which is why Lightning is still a knight and Etro is still alive. I see some of you that are not familiar with FFXIII series, so I'll try to explain what is happening briefly in the ending note if you're curious.

If you're familiar with the series, please note that I changed some of the lore to suit this story so don't complain if everything isn't canonical. This is the chapter that I've been waiting for by the way! I've been waiting to write this scene since the beginning and I hope you're as satisfied by this as I am!

I was listening to An Arrow Through Time on repeat while I was writing this, by the way. It's so beautiful and soothing, perfect for writing.

Disclaimer: I stole some lines/scenes from FFXIII-2 Fragments After because I'm ~uncreative~. Anything you recognized is not mine.

(I suggest you to read this chapter in AO3 if you want to see the links I put in the notes and story itself).

* * *

**Like A Fire in the Dark**

**Seven**

* * *

"Nea, watch out!"

Aurys cried out as he ran to cover the Dragoon's back from the Tall's greatsword. He gasped as he was staggered back even though he had successfully blocked the attack. Damn these Guardians and their monstrous strength.

"Go!" He shouted, righting himself just as Aranea jumped high in the air with her spear to execute her signature attack, joining all the Kingsglaives that were warping up to attack the giant Guardian's head.

Everything just fell into chaos so suddenly.

First the king was attacked by flying swords, then his emperor was kidnapped by the Bladekeeper, then the Astral threatened Lunafreya and the prince to not change 'the preordained future' bullshit, then she started screaming at the Astral to give the emperor back to them and argued that she will not sacrifice the life of anyone if they didn't have to, and suddenly Bahamut had summoned the spirit of the Tall and have him attack the city.

King Regis was quick to recover and deployed his Glaives at once when he found that he couldn't control the spirit and ordered them to disable the Tall while the Crownsguards evacuated the people to safety.

Aurys didn't know what was happening anymore but knew that he had to support and protect everyone in his liege's place.

At the thought of the little emperor, Aurys felt his eyes burn with frustrated tears.

Gods, this was the person who won over an empire and ascended the throne at the age of 13—the person who freed him and countless others from years of being imprisoned in their own minds with just a wave of his hand, the person who secured peace for their countries after more than a century of war.

He refused to believe that his liege was gone, no matter what the Bladekeeper wanted them to believe.

Iudicias Aldercapt was alive and he will definitely come back, so he had to keep everything together for the time he will return to them.

Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and jumped back into the fray.

"Loqi, are you able to contact our bases yet?" he said to the communication device he wore on his ear.

"_It still won't go through. Something's jamming our connection there,_" Loqi's staticky voice answered back, his frustration was clear even through the communication device. "_Shit. I can't join the fight like this. I'm a pilot, damnit! Not a melee fighter!"_

Aurys took a deep breath and ducked as the Tall swung his chainsaw-like broadsword down again. He was as big as a building, how could he be so fast?

"Just focus on protecting Lunafreya right now and keep contacting our bases," he told the younger man who agreed even with his frustration for being helpless.

When the Tall began to destroy the city, King Regis had lowered the Wall around Insomnia, choosing to focus the barrier into this section of the city to trap the guardian in with them. Safety of the people was always first on his mind before everything else.

The King's Shield tried to get him to the safety of the Citadel, but King Regis stubbornly remained and provided back up for his soldiers in the form of magical barrier, enhancements to boost their strength, as well as strong magical spells here and there.

Naturally, as the dealers of the most damages, the King was targeted the most by the Tall, but thankfully his barrier was stronger than the Tall's attacks and his Shield was there to protect him when his barrier failed him.

Aurys had ordered Ravus and Aranea, their strongest fighters, to join the Kingsglaives in subduing the Past King's spirit when everything went down and commanded what little Magitek Soldiers they brought along with them to attack from afar.

"Aim for his joints!" he had shouted at them before he, too, joined the fight.

Aurys couldn't do extraordinary attacks like Aranea or do magic like Ravus, but he was strong in his own rights. He did what he could to aid the others; attacking the Warrior from below, blocking attacks meant for unsuspecting others.

As he was flung back from a blow he failed to see, he saw a flash of white from the corner of his eyes and saw Lunafreya running to a wounded soldier. He had told Loqi to take the Oracle somewhere safe at the beginning, but the girl proved as stubborn as the King.

Lunafreya had darted around the battlefield to the aid their fighters, making simple barriers as she used her oracle magic to heal the wounded. Somewhere on the chaos of the battlefield, Aurys could see that the prince was out there joining the fight with his own Shield and Adviser too.

Damn these royals and their selflessness for making their job to keep them alive really challenging.

He saw the greatsword swinging down at him a little too late to raise his sword to block the attack and was convinced that that was the moment he would die when crystalline shards zapped into him, throwing him into the side to avoid being crushed to bits.

"Ulric—"

The Glaive laughed and grimaced at the same time as he pulled Aurys's arms, helping him up. Aurys could see the deep bleeding gash on his back and glare at his savior. This man was wounded and still came to his rescue? He took his 'Hero' moniker way too seriously, honestly.

The Tall's sword suddenly lunged at them as they were recovering, but Captain Drautos was already there with his own ready to shield them before they could get their bearings ready.

"Get him to the Oracle," Drautos ordered him as he swung his sword and warped after the Tall.

Aurys glanced at Ulric and nodded, supporting the other male's body with his own as they limped towards the Oracle's position. Just as they were limping away, he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the asphalt and twisted his neck to see what was happening.

The Tall was down, disintegrating into tiny golden particles.

In his wake, the giant body of the Fierce materialized into life and raised his mace, before swinging down to crush the Glaives below him who thankfully warped away just in time.

Aurys felt his blood running cold at the sight.

If he was correct in his suspicion, even if they managed to bring down the Fierce right now, another would come and take his place as well. As far as he knew, there were twelve known Guardians of Lucis, so eleven more of this? They were already struggling so much with the Tall before, could they endure so many more rounds of these fights?

He closed his eyes in frustration.

_What should I do, Iudy? How can help everyone?_

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"The goddess Etro?"

Iudicias frowned, never hearing of the name before. He saw the woman in the Valkyrie armor, Lightning, rose from her bow and nodded at him at his question, but didn't elaborate.

"How do you know my name?" Iudicias asked her instead because he was sure that he had never seen her before in both of his lives.

"You can see everything from Valhalla, and I have seen you and what you will be," Lightning answered, but her cryptic answer only made him even more confused. She saw his confusion and smiled, shaking her head slightly as she nodded at him again.

"Follow me. You will understand if you meet the goddess yourself."

He followed as Lightning led him into a series of tall hallways and stairs, all made of stones. There was no one else in this temple, giving him a sense of gloom that he couldn't seem to shake from his chest.

After some time, they finally reached an open area.

An empty throne sat upon a crystal pillar that was erected in the middle of the hall, bathed by a light that seeped in through the gaps on the ceiling, creating a hauntingly beautiful image that raised the hairs on Iudicias's neck.

Even though he couldn't see it, he felt a strange presence from that throne.

Instinctively, he knew it must be the goddess Etro.

The goddess was there, even though he couldn't see her. It was different from anything that he had ever felt before, even unlike the feeling he got from Bahamut. He felt like something was smiling down at him—like a gentle presence was watching over him.

Lightning stopped before the stairs that would lead them directly to the throne and turned around to face him.

"Go on. She's waiting for you at the throne," she told him, nodding as she stepped aside to let him through.

Iudicias glanced at her briefly before he continued to walk down the stairs and the small path that leads to the throne. He stopped and raised his head to stare at it, and suddenly, his surroundings turned black.

"What…?"

He whirled around but couldn't make out Lightning's form anymore.

He was alone, in the realm of the goddess.

Iudicias swallowed, suddenly feeling a bit nervous, but still he marched forward to face the goddess.

Before long, he could see a faint light. It was a weak light that seemed as if it was going to disappear any moment, but regardless he could feel an extravagant power inside that weak light. There was a mighty entity slumbering there whose power was incalculable to any human.

Iudicias felt that he was being beckoned, and though uncertain, he stepped forward to that welcoming presence.

He outstretched his hand without noticing it, reaching towards the light as if he was getting pulled into it. He spontaneously opened his eyes that he didn't even realize had been closed. However, what laid in front of his eyes was no longer the world he had been seeing.

These were the goddess' Eyes.

In that instant, he understood why he was brought here by the goddess.

He saw what the goddess was seeing and felt what she was feeling—her memories, her pains, her fears, and her hopes—in that brief moment they were connected.

He saw a pair of twin sisters, abandoned by their paternal creator, the god Bhunivelze.

The sisters loved each other very much. All they had was each other so they took care of the other as best as they can, but Bhunivelze, who feared and envied their powers, decided to tear them apart one day.

One-half of the sisters had most of her powers taken away and was sent to the realm between, where time didn't exist, while the other was banished to a realm that no other can touch, where she was to spend her divine life alone and isolated.

Eos and Etro.

They were those sisters.

Even though they were apart, Etro kept watching over her sister from her throne in Valhalla. She saw Eos build her own world despite everything, creating little creatures she called 'humans' and other beings to share her immortality with that she called the 'Astrals'.

Etro was proud of her.

The star that she resided in grew and prospered, but then the war between the Astrals and the humans began and she could only watch as her sister was devoured by her sickness—a sickness that in time would take her life.

"Lunafreya's stories… they were true." He realized as he watched the memories unfolding before his eyes.

But Lunafreya didn't tell him that Eos was carrying children when the war was brewing. She was pregnant with the children of her human lover. Was that why Lunafreya said that Bahamut thought that Eos was impure? Because she was carrying human blood inside of her?

Eos gave birth secretly and entrusted her children to the hands of her beloved before she retreated to the depth of the star in order to isolate her sickness. Etro was watching everything that was happing to her from Valhalla, but she couldn't do anything to prevent her death from happening. Her sister died in the end, leaving behind only a shard of her crystallized heart and a pair of twins—a girl that inherited her body and a boy that inherited her soul—as the proof of her existence.

Those children, in time, would become the origin of the Oracle and the King.

Lunafreya and Noctis.

They were Eos's descendants.

Despite her sadness, Etro kept watching over the lives of her sister's descendants over the millennia, for even though her sister was gone she had left _something _of herself behind for Etro to remember her with. But then, one day, Etro saw a vision of the future.

A future where the Draconian Bahamut had manipulated the future to have her sister's descendants eliminated from that star.

Bahamut lied to generations of Kings and Oracles to have them act the way he wanted, manipulating the events to go how he wanted it to happen and called it a 'prophecy'. He orchestrated to rid himself of her sister's descendants and extinguish her sister's light while at the same time also save himself from being swallowed by the darkness that he helped spread all throughout the star.

It was vile and Etro didn't understand how he could have done that, didn't understand why he hated her sister so much when he was one of her creations.

She wanted to save Eos's descendants, but she, who had most of her divine power taken away, couldn't do anything to change their fate. Etro, with her abundant love for those children, could only weep over their fate from her throne in Valhalla.

It was at that moment that she saw his wandering soul that was heading to the next world.

"It was you," he whispered softly in realization. "The reason I was born to that world. It was your doing."

Indeed, it was her that did it. She saw him, and in her desperation to see her sister's descendants live, she sent his soul to the realm where Eos was banished to be reborn there, hoping that he would be able to change the future and saved her sister's blood from fading away.

She didn't think what it would mean for him or if it was selfish of her to do that. Without any bad intention, she just wanted to keep those children safe, and so she did it.

That time, when Bahamut send the chaos to swallow him, the gentle presence he felt when he heard the bells' tolls before he lost his consciousness was Etro herself, opening the gate to Valhalla to save him so that he wasn't written out of history as Lightning did.

Iudicias felt Etro's light flickering and he reached out his hands even further in order to cling to the vision she was sending him.

He saw an era of destruction, where darkness overtook the entirety of Eos. He saw a future where Noctis and Lunafreya died in order to save the world.

He saw the moments when the immortal Accused was thrown away by the gods and saw how the man turned into someone who would destroy the world. He saw himself, swallowed by the chaos and returned to nothingness. He saw his newfound family, whom he loved so dearly, was killed by the machinations of Bahamut as they struggled to defend their home.

He saw a future where Lunafreya and Noctis got married. A future where they had children together. A future where the Accursed was freed from his demons, where nobody has to die or suffer from the constraints of fate.

He heard the laughter of their children as they played in the gardens of the Citadel. He saw the fond look on Ardyn's face as he watched over the happily running children as Noctis napped under the tree and Lunafreya sneakily braided flowers into his hair.

He saw himself there amongst them, lying on the grass with a smile on his face, surrounded by the people he loved.

Iudicias felt his eyes becoming blurry with tears as she revealed to him her request with that last vision. He couldn't hear her voice, but he understood it all the same in his heart.

He lowered his head, kneeling on one knee as she bestowed upon him what little remaining power she has left unto him.

Light blinded his vision and he slowly returned to his senses.

Just now, what he had seen through the Eyes of Etro—from the tale of the two sisters to the futures that could come to pass—even though it felt like a long journey, in reality only a second had passed.

White feathers swirled around him as the goddess blessed him with her power and he looked upon himself and saw that his robes have been replaced by a suit of armor similar to what Lightning was wearing, but instead of the skirt of white feathers, he had a golden translucent cloak rested upon his shoulders.

A magic staff materialized in front of him and he intuitively curled his hand around it. He felt his body thrum with power as his fingers touched the staff and looked at the staff in reverence.

The silver staff had a similar appearance to a trident and was longer than his body in height, the tip shaped like a crescent moon pointing upwards with a spherical ruby in the center, a pointed tip that extends through the gem and was decorated with ornate golden carvings.

Iudicias raised his hand when several objects—other gifts from the goddess—appeared before him, suspended in the air with crystalline sparks surrounding them. A silver ornate ring, a silver trident, and a clear crystal with a golden tinge that was shaped like a sylleblossom flower.

The white feathers that were entwined in his hair rustled as he looked up at the throne, sensing that the goddess had gone back to sleep.

Iudicias lowered his head once more before he rose from his kneel. The gifts and his staff disappeared with a crystalline light when he stood, but he knew that when he needed them, they will appear once more to respond to his needs.

Lightning was there again when he turned around, waiting for him at the end of the path.

"You've received her blessings," Lightning said to him knowingly.

Iudicias nodded as he answered. "I have."

"So you've seen what will happen," she asked him, and he swallowed before he nodded again.

"…Yes."

She let out a faint breath and closed her eyes briefly.

"You know what to do, then."

"I do."

Lightning opened her eyes again and smiled at him before she turned around; nodding at him, motioning him to follow after her.

Iudicias gave Etro's throne one last look before he trailed after her, their footsteps echoed loudly through the dark stone walls, giving him a sense of the loneliness that Etro must have endured throughout the years alone here in Valhalla.

"You are her champion now, Iudicias," Lightning told him solemnly. "You cannot fail the task she has given you. The future depends on every step that you take from now on."

He was about to nod at her again, but there was one thing he didn't fully understand from all of this.

"Why did she choose me to do it? I am not anyone special."

The goddess never specified why it was that she choose to send _him _to Eos. He was just a retired grandfather who loved good wine and having fun with his family.

"One might argue with that," Lightning huffed lightly, lips quirking into a smile as she glanced at him. "Do you remember those items you united in your previous life?"

"What items?" Iudicias asked her, frowning in confusion. The answer appeared into his mind before Lightning could answer him. The images of a ring, a wand, and a much-beloved cloak flashed briefly behind his eyes and he gasped softly.

"The Deathly Hallows?" he asked doubtfully.

Lightning nodded at him.

"Those items marked you with death the moment you united them and you became their master," she revealed to him. He didn't know why she would know about that, but then he remembered her previous words to him.

_"You can see everything from Valhalla, and I have seen you and what you will be."_

"Etro is the goddess who ruled over death and chaos," Lightning continued as they walked through another series of hallways. "Divine though Etro might be, she cannot interfere with the events of the living realm of another world with her own hands. But you—who have the mark of death in your soul—you, she can touch."

He saw a pig-like creature with pink crystal on its head flew over to Lightning, who greeted it with a fond pat to its cheek. It fluttered over him, making strange noises as it looked at him curiously, but Iudicias was far too focused on Lightning's words to pay attention to it.

"She chose me because I accidentally became the master of some trinkets?" He asked, a little incredulously. He didn't even realize that the Hallows were _that _special.

He vaguely remembered long ago when Dumbledore told him that becoming the Master of Death meant that he accepted death or something. Did he not know about this, or did he knew but chose to conceal it from him?

"It was precisely because of those trinkets that she could touch you in the first place," Lightning told him with another quirk of her lips. "She saw your life the moment she touched you. She knew you would give everything you have to prevent the fate that would befall her sister's descendants. She knew that you would help them protect that world from being swallowed by the darkness, and she was right."

Lightning turned towards him then.

"The goddess doesn't really understand how humans are. I know that you didn't choose any of this and that it's unfair to you, who was supposed to rest after your passing, but… even knowing the fate that awaits you, you will fight anyway. Am I wrong?"

The way she looked at him, she knew what his answer would be.

"No. Even if she didn't give me that task, I will still do it. Even if she didn't bless me with her power, I will use my own to accomplish it. Eos is my home now. I have a family there, and I will do anything to save them," he told her honestly, and she twisted her head to the side slightly to give him a smile.

"She chose a good person this time, at least. I'm glad," she said simply.

They emerged outside of the temple. The gray sky kept flashing with lightning and the sound of thunder. They were still pretty high up, but there was a series of stairs that lead down from their current location.

Faintly, Iudicias could see a bright light of some kind of portal near the bottom of the city. A_ Time Gate_, the world around him provided. That was the thing that will bring him back to his friends.

"Use the gifts from the goddess, it will aid you in your task," Lightning told him as they descended down the stairs. "And… remember, you are not alone. Don't try to bear the burden by yourself. Eos's descendants will become your strength if you let them, even the one who is blackened with the sickness."

"I know," he nodded. "Thank you, Lightning. For everything."

They stopped near the floating, glimmering portal, and Lightning turned to face him, nodding.

"It's almost time. Whenever you're ready, the Gate will send you back to your world."

Iudicias was about to step into the Time Gate but stopped at the last second. He turned back to look at her with concern.

"What about you?" he asked, gripping the edge of the gate tightly. "If you stay here…"

Knowing what he meant and what he was concerned about, Lightning shook his head at him with a reassuring smile.

"I will remain here," she told him resolutely. "Just like your future needs you, my future needs me as well. It is my role to protect the goddess while she rests. As her champion, I will fight."

The same way that she knew about him and what will happen to him, he saw about the future that will happen to her, too. He knew she would eventually be defeated by her adversary and lose everything, and yet she chose to stay for as long as she could to do what no one else can.

Things that need to be done, huh…

He narrowed his eyes in determination and nodded at her, signaling that he was ready. Lightning threw something at the gate, making its glimmer shine even brighter.

He knew then that it was time.

"Be the key that opens the future, Iudicias Aldercapt," he heard Lightning said softly as he was about to go. "May Etro protect you, always."

With one last look at Lightning, he jumped inside the gate. He knew his friends were fighting right now and that they were losing. He had to go help them, but there was something else that he needed to do before that.

"Bring me to Niflheim," he told the gate, and his vision was blinded with light.

* * *

**End of Chapter Seven**

* * *

I hope I managed to convey my ideas clearly because it really made sense in my head so if it didn't make sense to you, I don't know what to say lol. Lightning and Etro won't appear again after this by the way. They will be mentioned again though.

Just to clarify, the enemy Aurys and the others are fighting is not the Old Wall, but instead the summoned spirit of the kings like when Somnus came to Regis's rescue in Episode Ardyn. If you're wondering why the spirits are attacking the city, in canon Bahamut have the ability to control the spirits of the dead (examples: Aera in Episode Ardyn and the Kingsglaives in FFXV: Comrades).

If you think Etro is confusing here, it's because she confuses me. In the FFXIII-2 novel, it was said that she didn't actually have emotions and merely imitates what she thought humans are feeling. In here I tried to make it like she actually has feelings though. The scene where Iudy connected with the goddess is like that in the novel too, but Lightning's in Iudy's place and she saw different things.

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**Brief FFXIII summary (spoilers!):**

Basically Lightning and several others were turned into a l'Cie (something like a servant of the gods there) and was given a focus (mission or task). If a l'Cie completed their focus they will enter a crystal stasis, becoming living a crystal statue and are granted eternal life (they could return back into a human under certain conditions no matter how many years have passed).

At the end of FFXIII Lightning and her friends entered the crystal stasis, but the goddess Etro released them from their stasis out of compassion immediately after. In doing so, however, she caused a rift in time that opened the gate to the realm between the dead and the living. Chaos slipped through the rift and dragged Lightning away to Valhalla, erasing her from history and the memories of all her friends except her sister, Serah.

In Valhalla, Lightning found Etro on her throne, and she saw the future of mankind when she connected with Etro. She realized that Etro was the only one who was keeping the chaos from claiming the living world, but also that she was fading away. Lightning received Etro's blessing and chooses to stay in Valhalla as the goddess's champion to protect the timeline and atone for her sins of killing a lot of humans in the events of FXIII.

And that's when Iudicias was saved by Etro in the last chapter. Search (FFXIII-2 Lightning Explains it All) to see the full explanation! Lightning is so beautiful I got chills every time I saw her in that scene, honestly.


End file.
